Harriet Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
by Web of Obsidian
Summary: Harriet's summer starts out with a bang, and everything spirals out of control from there. From the Ministry of Magic to hearing strange voices in the walls to potentially deadly, well-meaining house elves, it looks like Harriet's second year will be as crazy as her first! ON HIATUS, SEE PROFILE PAGE FOR DETAILS
1. The Best Worst Summer

**Welcome to the second installment of the adventures of Harriet Potter and her friends. This is the sequel to 'Harriet Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone' so I'd go back and read that first if I were you. This probably wouldn't make too much sense otherwise.**

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Harriet was having a miserable summer.

She had walked up to Uncle Vernon's car, where Dudley and Petunia were sitting inside. Her uncle had then gotten into the front seat while she struggled to put her trunk in the boot of the car. When she took too long to do so, he had told her to hurry up. On the ride back, the silence was so oppressive Harriet was dying to say something, but feared that if she did so she would get in trouble.

When they got back to Privet Drive, her relatives had promptly got out of the car and gone inside, leaving Harriet to struggle with her trunk once more. Finally, she managed to drag both it and Hedwig's cage inside #4. Her uncle had promptly grabbed her by the throat and shoved her up against the wall, his face a dangerous shade of purple.

"I want you to take your-your-your _wand_ and put it on the trunk, girl." He did not move to let her go, and Harriet gasped for air while fumbling for her wand, which she kept in her back pocket, and thinking about how her uncle had actually said 'wand' and not 'freaky stick' or something like that. Tossing the wand on the trunk, she was released and told to go outside and start gardening. The rose bushes needed to be trimmed, the lawn needed to be mowed, the flowerbeds needed watering, and dinner needed to be cooked for them by 6:00. Everything had to be done before dinner, and tomorrow he would have another list for her.

Sighing, Harriet went outside as Uncle Vernon went to move the trunk into her old cupboard, then was called back in for not putting 'that bloody pigeon' upstairs.

The next two weeks passed in a similar fashion, with Harriet waking up at six in the morning to cook breakfast, stealing some bread or something for herself, then doing chores until she had toee cook lunch, again stealing a scrap or two for herself along with the 'meal' she was provided, and then working until dinner, which she also cooked. Extra locks were installed on the cupboard and on her bedroom door, and Vernon – she had stopped giving them titles about a week ago as they didn't deserve them – had hired a man to put bars on her window, extra locks on Hedwig's cage, and extra locks on her door and the cupboard where her things were kept.

These two weeks were particularly hard on Harriet, as she had never been worked _quite_ this hard before, and she had gotten used to having a normal amount of food, three times a day, seven days a week. The work was taking its toll on her.

Her glasses had once more been broken by Dudley, and she sported some bruises from Harriet Hunting. Her hair, which had grown out to about an inch below her shoulders, was messier than normal as Dudley had hidden her hairbrush. She was badly sunburned, and positively _reeked_ since she was only allowed five minute showers once a week. Bathroom breaks were twice a day. Her ribs were just beginning to show, and where she wasn't burned or bruised, she was extremely pale.

To top it all off, what sleep she got was disrupted by nightmares, generally of the Quirrelmort thing or her old recurring dream, but now it wasn't just her parents that had faces put to the voices. Voldemort was there, too, and she now quite understood why people were so scared of him that they refused to call him by name.

"Come on, Fred, George," she muttered as she tried to pull up a particularly tough weed. "Hurry up? Please? Don't leave me here..."

The sun continued to beat down mercilessly, ignoring her near-silent pleas for help.

Arthur Weasley looked at his two sons. Each twin stared at him with serious expressions containing a faint desperation.

"And you aren't joking about this? You really think that the Girl-Who-Lived was placed in an abusive home?" Fred – or was it George? – sighed.

"She doesn't care for her fame very much, Dad-"

"-and do you think we joke about _this_?" Arthur studied them intently before nodding.

"And you said that if she hadn't written to you in two weeks, you should go and check on her?" They nodded again. "She hasn't written?"

"No," they said in unison.

"Very well. I'll talk to your mother about this, and then we'll go for a drive in our Ford Angelina, okay? No flying it," he added hastily at their open mouths.

Harriet hissed in pain as some thorns scratched up against her hands. Normally she'd just suck it up and get on with it, but her hands were sunburnt and blistered from the constant manual work. It was also the hottest day of the summer so far, at close to 32 degrees Celsius. Looking down at her hands, she then glanced up towards the kitchen window. Petunia could not be seen doing the dishes, and the TV was blasting from the living room, meaning Dudley, and probably Vernon and Petunia, were in there, too. Gently setting the garden shears down on the ground, she went over to the hose and turned it on so that a faint trickle of water came out. Glancing back up at the house again, and still not seeing anyone, she sat down cross-legged on the freshly mowed grass and placed her hands under the stream. It stung the cuts and burns, but only for a moment. She sighed. Once her hands were in significantly less pain, she scooped up some of the water in her cupped hands and brought it to her lips. She was just so thirsty...

"GIRL!" Harriet jumped, causing water to splash on her clothes. She quickly turned the hose off and ran back to the garden shears, but Vernon had seen her anyway. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING? WE CLOTHE YOU, WE FEED YOU, AND YOU THINK IT'S FINE TO GO LAZING ABOUT FOR THE WHOLE DAY! GET IN HERE _RIGHT NOW!_" Harriet gulped, then set the garden shears down once more and went inside. She did not see the blue car drive up, nor two of her best friends and their father come out.

"GOOD FOR NOTHING **FREAK**! WE SHOULD HAVE LEFT YOU TO FREEZE!"

Mr. Weasley and his two sons glanced at each other as they heard shouting come from inside the house. Fred, looking quite ready to kill, went up to the door and knocked. A woman that looked similar to a horse answered the door.

"Yes?" she said in a tone which clearly stated 'go away.'

"We're here to speak with your neice," George practically snarled.

"We don't have one," the woman said abruptly, trying to close the door in their faces. Mr. Weasley stopped it with a hand.

"You do, Mrs. Dursley, and she told my two sons here that her home conditions were... less than ideal, shall we say? We would like to speak with her."

"But-" George tried to peer around Mrs. Dursley as he heard his friend's voice.

"NO 'BUT'S' GIRL, YOU ARE GOING IN YOUR ROOM FOR THE REST OF THE DAY, AND WITHOUT DINNER! FREAK!"

The woman, Mrs. Dursley, seemed to acknowledge that nothing she could say would make them leave, and stepped aside. She went into the living room, out of the way, while the three Weasleys plainly saw a huge whale of a man dragging a pitiful-looking child up the stairs.

"Vernon-"

"YOU WILL ADRESS US BY 'SIR' OR 'MA'AM!' YOU HAVEN'T EARNED THE RIGHT TO CALL US BY OUR FIRST NAMES, AND YOU NEVER WILL, YOU FREAK!"

Mr. Weasley cleared his throat. Fred and George fingered their wands.

"Vernon," Mrs. Dursley whispered fearfully.

The whale-man, presumably Mr. Vernon Dursley, turned around and went from a furious purple to as white as a sheet. Harriet stared at them with wide green eyes.

"Fred," she whispered. "George. Oh, you came, you actually came!" And, despite the situation she was in and the condition she was in, she smiled at them.

"I suggest you put our friend down, Mr. Dursley-" Fred snapped.

"-because we _love_ Transfiguring things. You know-" George continued.

"-changing one thing into another?" Mr. Weasley finished, to their surprise. Harriet wriggled free of her uncle's grasp and ran down the stairs to them. "We'll be taking Harriet with us now, so I suggest you stay out of our way. Why don't you go and join your wife in the sitting room? And don't think you're getting off easy, you'll be hearing from us again soon." The treatment of Harriet had chased away Mr. Weasley's normally calm demanour. Mr. Dursley waddled away as fast as he could. Harriet quickly grabbed Fred and George in a hug, then turned to shake Mr. Weasley's hand.

"Hello, sir, you must be Mr. Weasley. It's nice to meet you." Her voice was as gentle as a whisper and not much louder. Her skin was red and peeling, no doubt from sunburn. He was surprised at how polite she was, but gently shook her hand with a smile.

"The same," he replied. "Now, where are your things?" She pointed to a heavily locked cupboard under the stairway.

"Hedwig is upstairs, I'll go get her."

"Hedwig?"

"My owl. Could you unlock her cage for me? Vernon put a padlock on it so she couldn't fly out."

Arthur's face hardened, but he nodded and turned to the cupboard... where the twins were picking the lock.

"Since when did you learn how to pick a lock the Muggle way?"

"Since Mum started locking away the sweets in the pantry, of course." They could hear the Dursleys conversing in hushed tones in the other room. Arthur sighed, and Harriet came down the stairs quickly and quietly, holding a rather smelly cage with a disgruntled white owl sitting inside it. George, who was pulling Harriet's trunk out of the cupboard, nodded to the cage. Fred went over, picked that lock, then opened the door to let Hedwig fly out.

"Meet us at the Weasleys house, okay girl?" Hedwig hooted as she left.

Soon enough, they all piled into the blue Ford Angelina with Harriet's things in the trunk and drove off. Mr Weasley sat in the front, and Harriet sat in between Fred and George in the back.

"Are you okay, Harriet?" George said.

"Because frankly, you-"

"-look like you got-"

"-run over by the Knight Bus." Harriet looked between the two of them.

"What's the Knight Bus?" she asked.

"It's a form of Wizarding transportation!" Mr. Weasley said. Harriet bit her lip as she saw that his drving skills were... lacking, slightly.

"We're going to get pulled over by a policeman," Harriet muttered. Fred grinned.

"Nah, we convinced Dad, since he doesn't actually have a liscence, to put a Dillusionment Charm and a Notice-Me-Not Charm on the car. No one will see us!"

"Oh. That's... good." They nodded brightly, then quickly became serious again.

"But really, Harriet, what did they do to you?" Harriet looked up at George quickly before shaking her head.

"I'd rather not talk about it."

"We won't push you-"

"-Harriet, but we will-"

"-be there if you need-"

"-to talk about it."

Harriet nodded slowly, allowing herself to relax. She was with her friends now, _her_ friends, and away from her relatives finally. She had no clue what could or would happen from this point onwards, but she knew it had to be better than what she had left behind.

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	2. The Burrow

**I would just like to say that you all nearly gave me a heart attack when I saw how many responses I had recieved from that last chapter. You all are amazing!**

**A big thanks to james1996, Midnight Alwas, Miyu Hinamori, harrymania 1978, RedRoseMana, nedermg, elle117, GreenLotus, hisliquidgoldeyes, kamichama12, L00ve-Joanna, Little Miss Vampire Pixie, SarahELupin, Skylar of Gryffindor, SlyLittleLuna1234, SonYukiGoku'sSister, The Good Child, ashira megane, Blu3P34r1, devilwanab, emmcguire10, hochexplosiv, Laura-Shi, OspreyEmblem, phoenixflamemarauder, Princess101855, Serlenia, and TheGirlWithTheOnyxRose. Thank you for your continued support; it keeps me writing!**

**And I would also like to extend a special thanks to Fergus Mason, who has kindly agreed to 'Brit-check' my story and hopefully avoid any more American terms in here.**

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Fred glanced down at Harriet who had dozed off somewhere during the car ride. It was amazing that she had managed to sleep, since his dad was _not_ an amazing driver.

"What did they do to you?" he whispered. George sighed.

"Look at this." He pointed to the sunburns on her arms. "Sunburns. They probably had her outside working; see the blisters on her hands?"

"She's too thin."

"Hey, Dad?" Mr. Weasley glanced at them in the rearview mirror.

"Yes, boys?"

"Did you ever know the Potters at school?" He blinked.

"...I think Bill and Charlie went to school with them, actually, not us. They... they were very young, about twenty or nineteen, when Harriet there was born."

"Were they short for their age?" Mr. Weasley blinked again.

"I'm really not sure, why do you ask?"

"Harriet here... She must be shorter than Ginny," Fred said softly.

"That cupboard we got-" George started.

"-her trunk from? It-" Fred continued bitterly.

"-had way too many locks-"

"-and a cot mattress on the floor."

"Not good-"

"-at all." Mr. Weasley's hands tightened around the steering wheel.

"We will make sure that Harriet is comfortable at our house, and then we can contact Amelia Bones. She's the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, so matters like this would go to her. Well, not normally her _directly_, but people will go into an uproar when they find out their savior was abused, and by _Muggles_ no less, Merlin, this will mean several of those new pureblood laws will probably be passed..." His voice trailed off into muttering, and the twins simply sat there, holding their friend comfortingly.

"What room will she be staying in?" George asked after about twenty minutes of silence. "Not with any of us, 'cause, well, she's a girl, but Ginny's a bit-"

"-obsessed?" Fred put in. George shrugged.

"I was going for starstruck, but that works."

"Now, boys, don't tease your sister," Mr. Weasley chided half-heartedly. "I suppose, if you don't think placing her with Ginny would be a good idea for the time being, then we can put her in Bill or Charlie's old room since they don't use them any more."

"...Will she be staying with us after this?" Fred asked. "Or will she find somewhere else to stay?"

"I don't know, boys. I'm not quite sure how we're going to sort out all this legal mess in the first place..." He trailed off into mutterings again.

The ride continued in silence for the following three hours until they finally pulled into the driveway of the Weasleys home. Fred gently shook Harriet awake.

"Come on, Harriet. We're at the Burrow."

"Burrow?" she mumbled, yawning. "Wha- Oh." As she was sitting in the middle of the back seat, she had a perfect view out the windscreen, where a large house rose in front of them.

It wasn't large like a mansion, but it was certainly tall. It was also lopsided, each story not quite alligned with the one underneath it. Stilts looked like the only thing keeping it upright, but Harriet assumed that there was some sort of magic at work, making it quite sturdy. A chicken coop was off to one side, and several chickens ran clucking around the yard. Mr. Weasley had gotten out of the car and was crossing the lawn to where Mrs. Weasley was standing in a flowery apron, looking anxious. Ron, who was standing beside his mother, ran over to the car.

"Harriet, you look horrible!" Harriet smiled without humor.

"I've noticed. I do rather look like a tomato." Ron winced.

"Sorry, Harriet-"

"It's not your fault. I haven't exactly been in the best of moods for the past two weeks." She smiled again, this time a real, reassuring one. "So this is where you live?" Ron nodded.

"It isn't much, but it's nice. There is a ghoul in the attic, though."

"The pipes rattle like you wouldn't believe," Fred added.

"And the stairs creak," George continued.

"But there is an apple orchard out back! We play games of Quidditch together, and sometimes with Cedric. Y'know, Cedric Diggory, the Seeker you plowed into the ground?" Harriet snorted.

"No, Fred, I have absolutely no recollection of that whatsoever," she drawled sarcastically. George poked the side of her head.

"I think we might have accidentally hit you in the head with a Bludger."

"Things like that can cause memory loss." She looked at the three.

"You two are next to impossible, you know that?" They nodded. She rolled her eyes, then the four began the process of taking her things up to where she would be staying. Mrs. Weasley, as they passed by, told them to go up to Bill's old room, so they did. Harriet remembered that Bill was the curse-breaker at Gringotts, although you couldn't really tell what he liked by his room. It was a soft blue color and slightly dusty. A single bed was in the corner, along with a wardrobe and a desk. Some Quidditch posters hung on the walls, and there were a few pictures around.

"You'll be in a different room, possibly, if Bill ever comes to visit, but that doesn't normally happen," Fred explained. "Now that your stuff is up here, we can give you the tour!"

And they did. They pointed out what each room was (the twins' door was shut tightly and had several suspicious scorch marks on the frame), introduced her to Percy and Ginny (Ginny squeaked and ran away), the yard ("See, there's the orchard! Out back!"), and then went to play a few rounds of Exploding Snap in the living room. Five minutes later, Mr. And Mrs. Weasley came in.

"Harriet, dear, could we talk with you for a moment?" Mrs. Weasley said softly. Harriet nodded.

"Don't look at my cards, you guys," she said with a smile before following the adult Weasleys out. Mrs. Weasley lead her into the kitchen, where Harriet saw the dishes washing themselves in the sink and flying into the cupboards once they were done. She tried not to stare.

"Sit down, dear. Biscuit?" She held out a plate. Harriet gratefully took one, she was rather hungry, after all.

"Harriet, was this how your relatives would normally treat you?" Harriet chewed slowly, stalling for time. _No, no, normally they'd just throw me into my cupboard, that's all, _she thought.

"It's not like they ever hit me or anything." _That was only Dudley. And when Petunia would occasionally throw a frying pan at me. And the time where they threw the broom at me, but that was more of an accident._ "They fed me, they gave me clothes." Mr. Weasley stared at her.

"Are these the clothes that they would give you?" She glanced down at the jeans, held up with a belt that she had poked extra holes in (both were Dudley's, and very large) and turned up several times at the ankles, and her gray t-shirt that she had ripped the sleeves off of long ago.

"...Yes."

"And how much did they feed you?" Harriet shifted uncomfortably.

"I got fed if I got all my work done, and I got a lunch for school every day." The two adults looked furious, and although Harriet knew the anger wasn't directed at her, she still watched them warily. "But still, it wasn't like they hit me or anything! I had a place to sleep-" _Cupboard._ "-and they fed me and sent me to school and payed for my glasses and stuff. It wasn't that bad, really."

"Don't try to tell me that you got those sunburns and bruises while you were playing at the park," Mrs. Weasley said softly after a moment. Harriet just shrugged. The two adults sighed.

"Listen, Harriet, I know that you're used to what your life at that house was, but it isn't normal! The twins said that there was a crib mattress and an old blanket under the stairs?" Harriet shrugged again. "How long did you sleep there?"

"...UntilIgotmyHogwartsletter," she said all in a rush, but they still understood.

"Harriet, we will do everything we can to make sure that you never go back there, okay?" Mr. Weasley said. Harriet looked up and nodded. "You can go back to playing Exploding Snap with the boys, and we'll discuss future arrangements. We'll also probably need to head to St. Mungo's to see a Healer for you as well, but that's for later. For now, we have some potions and creams you can use." Harriet nodded again, not really sure what St. Mungo's was, but going to ask the twins.

"Okay. Thank you, Mr. Weasley, Mrs. Weasley. This really means a lot to me, you letting me stay here." They smiled, and Harriet left to finish the round.

After several more rounds, Mrs. Weasley called them over for lunch. After her fourth serving, given to her by Mrs. Weasley, Harriet was quite full. The table was full of chatting and laughter, so very different than the Dursleys stiff conversations and fake laughter. Fred and George teased Percy and Ron, for the most part, and Ron would retaliate by flicking a grape or some other food at them when their backs were turned. Mrs. Weasley was either eating or bustling around, getting more food for everyone, and Mr. Weasley struck up a conversation with Harriet about Muggles. Not her relatives, but Muggles in general. It turned out that he was fascinated by Muggle inventions, and had a whole shed full of them out back. Even Ginny started listening when Harriet started explaining about telephones.

"So, can you tell me about the fellytones that they use?" he asked eagerly. Harriet smiled; his enthusiasm was infectious.

"They're called telephones, not fellytones," she corrected with a smile. Her voice was still very soft, but Mr. Weasley didn't seem to mind. "Well, they run on electricity, you see? Muggles managed to harness it to power things, like their lights and appliances, including telephones. Each residence has their own phone, and the phone has a series of numbers. Each number is different for every telephone, although if there are multiple telephones in the same house all of them have the same number."

"But what does that have to do with a telephone?" Ginny piped up, still blushing slightly. Mr. Weasley's grin grew even wider at the fact that his only daughter was taking an interest in Muggle things.

"The phone itself has a speaker and a microphone in it. The microphone goes next to your mouth, and the speaker goes next to your ear. There's a cord running from the phone to a box on the wall where there's a bunch of buttons. The ones you would normally use are one through nine, and a zero. You dial the number in there, and then the phone calls the number that you dialed. The number links to another phone in another person's house. Their phone rings, telling you that someone is calling them. Then they pick up their phone to answer the call. You talk into the microphone in your phone, and they hear your voice through the speaker on their end. They talk back through _their_ microphone, and you hear their voice through your speaker! It does cost a small amount of money to use, depending on the distance and the amount of time you're talking, but you don't even need to shout. You can talk to anybody anywhere provided you know their phone number!" Mr. Weasley looked positively delighted.

"So it's like the Floo, but you just can't see each other!" Ginny said with a smile. "I get it!"

"Floo?" And Harriet listened with rapt attention as the two wizards explained to her the workings of Floo powder and how you used it to communicate with as much attention as they had given her.

Smiling inwardly, she continued the conversation by asking if anybody had ever tried making a portable Floo connection, much like a one of the Muggle mobile phones. This led to more discussion on mobile phones and possible ideas on how to further the technology. Granted, she wasn't really planning on doing anything they mentioned, but it was still a fun topic to pursue.

Ron and the twins asked Harriet if she wanted to do some flying after lunch, and she replied that she wanted to wait for her food to digest somewhat before going up on a broom. She finished her conversation with Ginny and Mr. Weasley ten minutes later, thanked Mrs. Weasley for the food, and asked Ginny if she wanted to join. The youngest Weasley blushed and said she didn't have a broom to use. Harriet insisted that they could take turns with hers, and so it was a shy Ginny and a smiling Harriet that went to meet the boys out in the orchard.

"Hey, what took you so long?" Fred shouted down from where he was holding a Quaffle.

"Why's ickle Gin-Gin here?" George asked, flying down to where they were standing.

"We were going to take turns using my Nimbus since she doesn't have a broom," Harriet replied. Ron flew down as well.

"Can you even fly, Ginny?" he asked. Ginny glared.

"Just because I'm the youngest and I'm a girl doesn't mean that I don't know how to fly," she said, still glaring. "Really, Ron, I'm not _that_ ignorant."

"But none of us ever taught you!" he protested.

"I've lived with you boys for my whole life! You're my brothers! Do you really think that I've never watched you fly before? You can learn a lot from watching people, you know." Ron stared at her for a moment longer as if he had never seen his sister before, and Harriet watched the display of sibling rivalry with some amusement.

"Why doesn't she-"

"-use Percy's-"

"-or Bill's-"

"-or Charlie's broom?" the twins chorused, Fred swooping down with the Quaffle still in his hands.

"That's a good idea," Ron mused. "They don't use them anymore, really, since Bill and Charlie moved out and Percy's a prat." Harriet raised an eyebrow.

"Does that mean Hermione or Neville is a prat because they don't fly or play Quidditch?" she said. He floundered for a moment.

"That-that wasn't-I-that wasn't-" Harriet laughed.

"Oh, calm down, Ron, I was teasing you!" Ginny had ran off to the broom shed and gotten an old Shooting Star out of it. The broom was obviously old, but still in good condition.

"Now, we have five people, so therefore we can't have teams," George started.

"Could we play Quaffle tag?" Ron asked, his eyes lighting up. The three other Weasleys grinned.

"Brilliant, Ron!" they said in unison.

"Care to explain?" Harriet asked. Ron turned to her.

"It's really fun. It's sort of like normal tag, but you're on brooms, of course. One person is 'it' and they have the Quaffle. The other players have thirty seconds to fly away from them, and then the game is on! The person with the Quaffle needs to hit another person with the Quaffle, and then the person who was hit is 'it.' Simple, really." Harriet smiled.

"That sounds like fun," she agreed.

"I'll be it!" Ginny piped up before anyone else could volunteer. The three Weasleys still looked at her as though she was a whole different person, but said nothing. Fred tossed the Quaffle to her, and she caught it.

"Okay, but we need to stay within boundaries. Don't go past the stone walls in the orchard; that marks the end of our property, and don't go too close to the house, either. Mum would kill us if we threw a Quaffle through the window," Fred said.

"I don't think it would break the window, mind you, but all of them are open since it's summer. We might hit someone in the face," George added. Harriet nodded in agreement, as did everybody else.

"Right then!" Ron said, clapping his hands together. "One... Two... Three... Go!"

They all jumped onto their brooms and sped off. Harriet was still much faster than the Weasleys, as she had the faster broom, but speed was not neccessarily everything. She still needed to be quiet so she wouldn't get tagged. Ginny, despite probably having the oldest and slowest broom out of all of them, had an advantage as she could slowly creep up behind them and drop a Quaffle on their head before they even noticed her.

The game went on until the sky was just beginning to tint orange, and they heard the loud voice of Mrs. Weasley calling them in for dinner. All five of them were sweaty and exhausted, but wearing wide grins. Even Ron, who had actually fallen off of his broom in shock when Ginny dropped the Quaffle on his head, was smiling brightly. Mrs. Weasley ushered them all inside, where they had yet another wonderful meal. They then went upstairs to their seperate rooms, where they got ready for bed and fell asleep.

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**So? Like? Dislike? Review and let me know!**

**Also, on a random note, I seem to have trouble typing 'Exploding Snap'. Whenever I do, half the time I type out 'Exploding Snape' of all things! :D**


	3. Settling In

**Sorry that the chapter is so short everyone, but it _is_ a filler chapter and there isn't a whole lot I can do about it. Next one will be longer, swear.**

**A big thank you to RedRoseMana, james1996, Legionary Prime, and all the silent reviewers out there! Your continued readership makes me happy.**

******And I would also like to extend a special thanks to Fergus Mason, who has kindly agreed to 'Brit-check' my story and hopefully avoid any more American terms in here.**

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Life at the Burrow was really quite wonderful.

Harriet had been living there for almost a week, now, and she was enjoying every minute of it. She was given meals to rival the feasts at Hogwarts three times a day, seven days a week. She was allowed to do her homework, and to actually do _well_, unlike when she got better mark then Dudley and was accused of cheating. She learned more about the wizarding world in those three days then she had learned in the whole year she'd been there. Mr. Weasley had continued their conversation about Floo powder to the Ministry of Magic, ways of travel, Gringotts, even a little bit about wizarding politics. Mr. Weasley had steered her away from that, though, saying that it was rather advanced and messy to begin with, and he didn't want to get into the details. Harriet had replied and said it didn't really matter to her.

Games were common, be it chess, Gobstones, Exploding Snap, Quidditch, or Quaffle Tag. The twins had pulled her outside one day, and with Ron and Ginny following along, they had walked to the Diggory's house some several miles away and asked Mr. Diggory if Cedric wished to join them for some Quidditch. It was a party of six that went back to the apple orchard to play a game of Quidditch with even teams. Ginny, Fred, and Harriet were on one team, with Ginny as Keeper, Fred as Chaser, and Harriet as Seeker, with Ron, George, and Cedric on the other team, Ron as Keeper, George as Chaser, and Cedric as Seeker.

Harriet's team had won by one hundred and fifty points when Harriet caught the Snitch.

She would wake up whenever she wanted to, come downstairs to an already-made breakfast, eat as much or as little as she wanted, then was allowed to do whatever she wanted until lunch, and the same between lunch and dinner. Not to say she lazed about all day; she did her homework, played several more games of Quidditch, helped the twins with their pranks, and also helped degnome the garden.

It was rather entertaining to watch, really, after she got over the shock that they were hurling living beings through the air for distances of at least forty feet. Apparently, it didn't hurt them at all, and they would keep coming back within a week or so like they _wanted_ to be thrown through the air. Perhaps they did, how was she to know? The twins had tried to stop her from helping, due to the amount of work she had been forced to do, but she had insisted.

"Blimey, Harriet, that must have been at least fifty feet..." Ron said as she flung a gnome over the hedge.

She would talk with Mr. Weasley about the finer points of the wizarding world, and tell him about Muggle inventions. He worked for the Department for the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts, something that he seemed to enjoy. Harriet had no problem explaining things to make him even happier.

Mrs. Weasley was like the mother she never had, treating Harriet like one of her own children and helping her with what she needed. The woman had given her some creams to put on the sunburns and scratches she had received, and the orders to 'take it easy.' Harriet had smiled, but they both knew she would be gallavanting around the orchard within the hour. She cooked the most amazing meals, and had even made Harriet a cup of tea when she had found her downstairs at three in the morning because of another nightmare about Voldemort. She didn't really push, she was just there if Harriet needed to talk. And sometimes she did, albeit in brief sentences.

Ginny, despite being starstruck with Harriet's fame, was slowly opening up. It was like meeting a singer whose music you listened to almost twenty-four-seven, only to find out that they were almost the same age as you and would probably be living with you. Harriet had sort of taken the youngest Weasley under her wing, so to speak. Her brothers tended to either be over-protective of her, treat her like she wasn't there, or look down on her. Harriet looked at Ginny and saw her little sister from the Mirror of Erised.

Ron was the same, although he did treat her slightly more... delicately, she supposed would be the word. It was hardly noticeable, though. Not much more than an occasional glance across the room when he thought she wasn't looking, or a quick 'Hey, you doing okay?' He was a good friend, and Harriet was grateful that he was there for her, to help her along.

The twins treated her the same, although they were now almost as protective of her as they were of their little sister. Again, it wasn't very noticable, but when she was sitting in a corner reading a book, or perhaps standing outside looking aimlessly at the fields, or even just milling around the bedroom she was staying in with nothing to do, one of them would come and join her. They would gently ask how she was doing, or if she wanted to do something. They kept an eye on her, but weren't trying to smother her. She was glad that they were there for her.

Bedtime was at ten o'clock, but the children had almost always worn themselves out by then so it wasn't really a problem. The nightmares still came on occasion. The first night she was there, she had been the victim of yet another nightmare. It was the normal nightmare, the one where she would hear the screaming and the laughter, but now both the screaming and the laughter had voices to put to them, and it had changed once again. Next to her parents, the Weasleys were all there looking at her with accusing blank eyes.

She had woken up with a gasp, eyes wide. Fumbling around for her glasses, she looked at Bill's old clock.

Three AM.

She had woken up at three in the morning.

Lovely.

Rubbing her eyes, she slipped out of bed and padded softly down the stairs, careful not to make a sound. She tiptoed into the kitchen, hoping for a cup of tea to calm her down, when she saw the twins already at the table.

"Fred? George?" They looked at her.

"Hello-" Fred started in a soft voice.

"-Harriet," George continued in the same tone.

"Nightmares-"

"-too?" She nodded.

"How'd you know?"

"Same thing-"

"-with us," they replied. She winced.

"Sorry. Voldemort?" They nodded.

"Not too bad, really. I just keep seeing those eyes..." George trailed off with a shudder.

"We haven't asked how Ron is doing. He doesn't like pity. Or sympathy. We've been keeping an eye on him, though. If he ever wants to talk." Harriet sat down next to them.

"I really am sorry," she said again. "You didn't have to come with-" Fred cut her off.

"No, Harriet, we wanted to come with you."

"Besides, what if it was only you down there? What if you had lost?" She stared at the table for a moment before responding.

"Okay, but I still can't help feeling a bit guilty." They each gave her a crooked smile.

"Don't worry, Harriet."

"We can handle it."

"Besides, it cheers us up-"

"-to think that we-"

"-charmed snowballs to-"

"-bounce off the back of Quirrel's turban-"

"-and that Ron wound up-"

"-dropping Quirrel on the floor-"

"-face first. Well-"

"-You-Know-Who's face first," they chorused. A grin broke out on Harriet's face.

"We hit Voldemort in the face with snowballs," she said before starting to laugh quietly. It wouldn't do to wake up the rest of the household. "Why are you down here though?" she asked when she calmed down. They shrugged.

"Not sure, really," George said.

"Couldn't sleep, I guess," Fred added.

"Children?" All their heads whipped around to look at the stairs as Mrs. Weasley came down, yawning, wearing a flowery nightgown.

"Professor Dumbledore told me about what happened at the end of the year, you know," she said quietly, looking at them. The twins blinked. Harriet did nothing; it made sense for the headmaster of a school to inform a parent that their child had gotten into a life-threatning situation. "Couldn't sleep?" They all nodded. "Well, then. Why don't I make you all a nice cup of tea, and then you can head back on upstairs, alright?"

They had spoken in hushed tones until about four in the morning, when Mrs. Weasley had finally sent them upstairs. Harriet had fallen asleep mere moments later.

* * *

In the five days that Harriet had been there, she had done her Potions essay (two feet of parchment longer than it was supposed to be) and had started her Transfiguration and Charms essays. Transfiguration was actually quite fun once you understood things, and the same went for Charms. Thinking of what Mr. Ollivander had told her last year, she remembered that her father's wand was suited for Transfiguration, and her mother's for Charms. She wondered if that meant that she had inherited both her parents' talent for Transfiguration and Charms. It seemed likely.

It was on the sixth morning that she had been staying there that an owl flew in through the open window and had landed in front of Mr. Weasley. He took the letter and opened it while Percy, who was sitting next to him, fed the owl some of his bacon. Mr. Weasley was smiling as he put the letter down.

"What is it, Arthur?" Mrs. Weasley asked. He merely shook his head.

"Good news, but after breakfast." She nodded and tipped ten sausages onto Harriet's plate.

After the meal was over, all the children were sent from the room. Mrs. Weasley went outside to do some gardening.

"Harriet, could I speak to you for a moment?" Mr. Weasley called. She stopped and turned around, sitting back down on the table.

"Yes?" He unfolded the letter and placed it down on the table in front of her.

"I contacted Amelia Bones, Harriet, about your situation a few days ago. She's a good woman, and Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. This covers Aurors, our form of... please-men?"

"Policemen," Harriet corrected.

"Yes, yes, it covers the Aurors, the hit wizards, which are more like the army, the judicial system, and some of the laws which people are trying to get passed go through her department as well." Harriet tilted her head to one side slightly, thinking she might know what Mr. Weasley was getting at, but not quite sure. "Why don't you read the letter, Harriet." Harriet continued looking at him for a moment with piercing green eyes before looking down at the letter. It was rather official-looking, with

_Dear Arthur,_

_I thank you for bringing this matter to my attention. After recieving your letter, I mus admit that I was both surprised and rather concerned. Cases like these would generally go to the Auror department, but considering who we are discussing, your reasoning makes perfect sense. I can understand your wish for secrecy. Along with a single trusted Auror, I am gathering the requested paperwork and will be sending it to you within the week. Nothing will leak out to the press; I have confidence in this._

_In the meanwhile, I suggest you take your ward to St. Mungo's to see a Healer. I would reccommend that you ask to see Healer Silvers. She is a good friend of mine and would not let any of this leak out, even if she were not under a Healer's Oath to begin with._

_Also, would you please ask Ms. Potter whether or not she wishes to press charges against the Dursley family? If she does so, the information will undoubtedly become public one way or another, but it is within her rights to do so._

_Sincerely,_

_Amelia Bones  
__Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement_

Harriet stared down at the letter. The words on the parchment had yet to register within her numb mind. She blinked.

Once.

Twice.

"When... When she says 'ward'... Does she mean...?" Mr. Weasley placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, understanding her sudden inability to speak.

"Yes, Harriet. She means you."

* * *

**Review and let me know what you think!**


	4. Birthday in the Family

**Glad people seem to like the way I ended the last chapter! **

**A big thank you to Legionary Prime, RedRoseMana, Lara, aura1234, The Submarauder, The Dark Lord Mudblood, XXciciXkitsuXX, and of course, Fergus Mason for going over my work and pointing out the American terms that slip in. Big thank-yous to all!**

* * *

Harriet gaped.

"That is, of course, if you want to," he added, looking slightly nervous. "We wouldn't want to force anything on you, and this is a bit abrupt, although it isn't finalized with the Ministry or anything-" Mr. Weasley was started to ramble, and Harriet quickly cut him off.

"No, Mr. Weasley. It's fine. Really. I... I just... It was unexpected." She glanced down at the letter again. "I-I think that I would like this. If it isn't too much trouble," she added quickly, thinking about how the Weasleys were a rather poor family. Mr. Weasley smiled.

"Not a problem at all, Harriet. We would love to have you here." Harriet allowed a grin to come onto her face.

"This is my home now?" she asked. It almost seemed too good to be true.

"Yes, Harriet, this is your home. You will never need to go back there again." Harriet's grin grew even wider, and she thanked Mr. Weasley several times before running off to tell the other Weasley children. Mr. Weasley watched her go with a smile before picking up the last sausage on the table and taking a bite, leaving as he did so.

* * *

Somewhere, in a certain school for wizards and witches in Scotland, in a certain Headmaster's office, a little instrument on a shelf began to buzz and whiz about. Nobody noticed, as said Headmaster was currently taking a break from running the school and would not be back for a week. The device rang its alarm for 24 hours before stopping. Nobody heard it, and it would be a good while before it was discovered.

* * *

"Fred! George!" The twins turned around in time for Harriet to tackle them in a hug. They were standing in front of their room. Ron was reading a comic book in his room, and Ginny was doing something in her own.

"Woah! Easy there-"

"-Harriet. What's got-"

"-you so excited?" they chorused.

"I think I'll be living with you guys! Your dad contacted Amelia Bones, and she said she'd send him the right paperwork within the week!" Their grins matched hers.

"Harriet, that's brilliant!" Fred exclaimed.

"Smashing!"

"Simply wonderful!"

"Amazing!"

"Glorious!" Harriet didn't even bother to tell them off, she was so happy.

"Anyway!" George said abruptly. "I had an idea last night, and I'd like to share it with you two. Come on!" He pulled them into the room and shut the door. Harriet looked around. There were two identical beds, some Quidditch posters hanging on the walls, and even more scorch marks and potions stains on the walls and floor. A desk sat in one corner, while papers, articles of clothing, and a cauldron were scattered around.

"So, brother dearest," Fred began. "What is this brilliant idea of yours?"

"So, you know how we finally discovered who the Marauders were from Hagrid?" They nodded. "And how Harriet here is the Great Prankster Queen?" Fred nodded, Harriet rolled her eyes. "Well, Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs all had their nicknames for each other. So we should have nicknames for ourselves!" Harriet nodded enthusiastically.

"That's a great idea, George! Why didn't I think of that?" George smirked.

"'Cause I'm awesome." Fred punched his arm.

"Well, then. You, me, and Harriet here will definitely have names. Ronnie will be included too, since he'd be left out otherwise."

"Hermione, if I can convince her, and Neville, too," Harriet added.

"What about ickle Gin-Gin?" George asked. Fred shook his head.

"Why don't we wait. She's already got enough to deal with right now. Once she's settled into the school, then we can tell her." This seemed fair enough to everyone, and Harriet smiled.

"Right, then! RON! C'mere!" There was the sound of footsteps, and then Ron joined them.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"We're making Maurader names for ourselves," Fred explained happily. Ron grinned. They all sat down on the floor, then began tossing names around. Harriet's came first.

"Prankster Queen?" Fred suggested. Harriet stuck her tongue out at him.

"I say we go with Prongslette," George said. "Since you're a girl and Prongs is your dad." Harriet refrained from adding 'was' onto the statement.

"That works," she said with a nod. "I like that. And I say we go with Castor and Pollux for you two." The twins and Ron just gave her blank looks, so she launched into an explanation of the constellations and the mythological background. Once she had finished explaining, they both decided that made sense and like the names a lot.

"But we'll be switching them around," George said with a grin. Harriet only smiled; that was a given.

"We can just call Gred, Castor, and Forge, Pollux, okay?" They laughed and all set to finding a Marauder name for Ron.

"Ronniekins?" Fred suggested again. Harriet slapped his arm.

"Take this seriously for once, would you?" she said with a smile. He shook his head.

"Since when do I ever take things seriously?"

She gave up.

"What about Bane? Since he'll no doubt be the bane of the teachers existence once we all group together to start pranking," George tried. Ron shook his head along with Harriet.

"I think you two have already taken that position," he said. Harriet nodded her agreement.

"Hold on a moment!" Harriet said, and ran back to her room (_her room_, that felt so right!) and grabbed a text on Latin, then flipped through it until she found what she was looking for. She then ran back and sat down on the floor next to them again.

"Pauloleo!" she said brightly, receiving more blank looks. "It means 'little lion' in Latin! I bought a book on it back in Diagon Alley so I could understand spells better." The twins nodded in understanding, and Ron seemed to like the name, so everybody was happy.

"Well, then!" George said. "Pollux, Pauloleo, Prongslette, want to go play some Quaffle tag?"

They ran outside, racing to be the first to the broomshed.

* * *

Harriet's birthday found her sitting up on the roof of the Burrow, her Nimbus lying next to her. The sun was just peeking over the edge of the horizon, casting a golden glow on a red-tinted sky. A smile worked its way onto her face.

_The sun supports Gryffindor. Take that, Malfoy._

The reason for her early rise was not another nightmare, but simply the fact that she had woken up and could not go back to sleep. After an hour of sleeplessness, she had gone out to the broomshed to retrieve her Nimbus, and then up to the roof to watch the stars and the night fade into the daylight. She liked it up here, since it was quiet and gave her time to think. Amelia Bones had not sent the paperwork to Mr. Weasley, yet, but she was still hoping.

She glanced down when she heard the ghoul in the attic smash on the pipes, and then heard a female voice telling it to quiet down. Mrs. Weasley, then. She supposed she might as well do something useful and help with making breakfast or something when the Weasley matriarch finally woke up.

Gliding down, she landed softly on the grass before going to place the broom back in the shed. She then returned inside to find Mrs. Weasley bustling around the kitchen wearing a set of flannel pajamas, an apron, and a pair of fluffy slippers.

"Do you need any help with anything?" she askd, causing the Weasley matriarch to jump a foot into the air.

"Oh, Harriet dear, you startled me!" Harriet walked into the kitchen.

"Sorry, Mrs. Weasley."

"Now, tell me dear, what are you doing up this early on your birthday?" She blinked.

"It's my birthday?" Mrs. Weasley smiled.

"Yes, it is! I was just going to make a nice breakfast for you, and then a cake for later this afternoon." Harriet instantly opened her mouth to protest, but Mrs. Weasley shook her head.

"No, you are going to have a nice little party with you friends, and that is final!" Harriet allowed herself to smile.

"Well, there have been worse punishments," she joked. "Do you need any help?" Mrs. Weasley looked at her for a moment, and then allowed her to start frying the bacon. The irony of this was not lost on Harriet, as the last time she fried the bacon, it was Dudley's birthday, a rather miserable day for her. Now, though, she was looking forwards to what seemed to be a very wonderful day.

At about eight, the twins came downstairs to see a table covered with food, as it normally was, and Harriet talking with Mrs. Weasley.

"Happy-"

"-birthday-"

"-Harriet!" they shouted together. She smiled again.

Not long before lunchtime, several owls swooped in. Two contained more gifts, and six were Hogwarts owls bringing their Hogwarts letters. Ginny received her Hogwarts acceptance letter, and the others contained the booklists for that year.

Of the other two, one was also a Hogwarts owl. It carried a bulky package – a photo album. She smiled as she read the note.

**Harriet,**

**Thought you might want this. I owled all of your parents' friends and asked them for pictures, so now you can look at them whenever you want to.**

**Happy birthday!**

**Hagrid**

She placed the photo album next to her, turning to the final owl. It was a severe looking, midnight black owl. It glared at her with yellow eyes before sticking its leg out, holding a much smaller package. Inside were two photographs, one magical and one Muggle. One was a black and white photo that appeared to be somewhat old. It was a picture of a little girl, about ten, sitting next to a young boy the same age that she didn't recognize. The second was a magical picture, this one in color, of the same girl standing in front of the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade. She looked to be about thirteen or fourteen, here. She was wearing a hat, gloves, robes, and a Gryffindor colored scarf to protect against what Harriet thought was rather cold weather, judging by the snowflakes drifting down. The girl was smiling and waving, her red hair flowing down past her shoulders from underneath the hat.

"Who sent those, Harriet?" Fred asked, coming into her room and sitting down on the bed. The black owl glared at him before taking off with a hoot. Hedwig ruffled her feathers from her perch as if to say 'How rude!' Morgana nodded from her spot on the desk. Harriet shrugged.

"Not sure." She turned the photographs over to see young writing on the back, written by two different hands.

On the Muggle photograph it said this:

_**Lily and I **__Me and Lily_

_**June 17th, 1971**_

A slightly more feminine, although still childish, script had corrected the first. On the second it was the same writing as the one that had been crossed out, although slightly neater.

_**Me and Lily's First Trip to Hogsmeade**_

_**November 13th, 1973**_

"Wait..." she muttered, looking back at the photograph. "Lily?" She gently ran a finger over the shining red hair in the picture. "Mum." A sad smile came over her face, and Fred put an arm over her shoulders.

"I wonder why they didn't send a note..." she mused. Fred pointed at a letter that was lying half-visible in the wrapping. "Oh."

"Fred! Harriet! Get down here!" Mrs. Weasley shouted from downstairs.

"Oh, well, I'll read it later." They got up and went downstairs, Harriet grabbing Morgana and placing her into her pocket. There wasn't anybody in the kitchen, or the sitting room.

"Maybe outside?" Fred suggested innocently. Harriet glanced at him; she knew he used that tone when he was up to something. She didn't say anything though, and they stepped out through the backdoor...

"SURPRISE!" Harriet jumped a foot into the air when she saw the large cake, the Weasleys, and, amazingly, Neville and Hermione and their respective guardians.

"Wha-what?" she stammered. Hermione smiled hugged her so tightly she couldn't breathe.

"Mrs. Weasley owled my family and said that you were staying with them and that they would be holding a birthday party for you, and I wanted to come so I asked my parents if I could, they said yes and-"

"Hermione, calm down!" she said, laughing. "I'm happy you're here. Hi, Neville!" Neville smiled.

"Hi, Harriet! The Weasleys owled me as well, invited me and Gran over for your party. Harriet, this is my Gran." Neville's grandmother was a stern-looking woman wearing a long green dress and a stuffed vulture hat while clutching a bright red handbag. On anybody else it would have looked ridiculous, but on her it looked rather imposing.

"Hello Mrs. Longbottom," she said politely.

"Ms. Potter," she replied cordially. "It is a pleasure to meet you."

"Just call me Harriet, ma'am," Harriet replied. She said hello to the Grangers, and then was pulled away to where Mrs. Weasley was bringing out a large chocolate cake, and the various people were bringing presents out and placing them on the table. There was also ice cream, as well as several other dishes of sweets and food.

When the time came to open presents, Harriet was practically forced by the twins to tear into her presents with enthusiasm, not the way she was doing it before: gently opening the gifts with as little noise and tearing the wrapping paper as little as possible. They were very happy when she finally agreed.

From Neville she recieved a package of magical plant seeds, said to be easy to grow and very pretty. She decided to take it to Hogwarts and grow it in a pot in the dorm. From the twins she received a variety of Zonko's products, to their mother's annoyance. Hermione gave her a pack of sugar-free gum and _Hogwarts, A History._ It was not the abridged version, however, and Harriet could barely lift it. She thanked her friend for it anyway, knowing that it might actually be of use at some point. Ron gave her some Chudley Cannons memorabilia, and a thick book about the achievements of the Ministry came from Percy. She thanked them all kindly.

Harriet and her friends talked for hours in the shade in the orchard while the adults mingled with one another in the backyard. Neville and Hermione were told of Harriet's summer, but didn't go into a lot of detail. Harriet still wasn't comfortable talking about it yet.

Neville looked furious.

Hermione nearly burst into tears before crushing her in a hug and burying her face into her shoulder. Harriet awkwardly patted her head.

"I'm fine, Hermione, I'm right here. Still in one piece." Hermione nodded, but didn't leave Harriet's side for almost the rest of the day.

People started leaving after a few hours, having other things to do. Not that there were very many people visiting, it was only the Grangers and the Longbottoms, after all, but Hermione's parents ran a dentist office about a four hours drive from the Burrow, and Mrs. Longbottom was an important member on the Wizengamot, apparently. They both had rather busy lives to run. Harriet gave them a hug goodbye, and, with the promise that they would write, they left.

The twins helped her bring her presents into her room, where she placed them on shelves and on the desk instead of dumping everything onto the floor. It gave the room a bit more character. Mrs. Weasley called for some help putting things away in the garden, but Harriet chose to ignore that in favor of reading the note that came with the photos. This writing, however, was much more familiar.

_Ms. Potter,_

_Hagrid had sent several owls out requesting photographs of your parents as a present for you. With this note should be two pictures that arrived at Hagrid's after he sent you the photo album._

_A happy birthday to you._

_S.S._

Harriet's eyes widened to the size of Galleons as she read her Potions Professor's note over again, and then again. She glanced at the child's writing on the back, and, in comparing it to the note, found that they were slightly similar. The boy in the pictures did look rather similar to Professor Snape as well...

"Well, I shouldn't be too surprised," she said to herself as she put the photos into the album. "Hagrid did say that they knew each other, after all."

She kept this note to herself, however, tucking it away into the very back of the photo album. Then she went outside to help Mrs. Weasley.

When everyone was finally done cleaning up, Mr. Weasley pulled her aside.

"Harriet, I just got a letter from Amelia Bones this morning. She said that she managed to pull up the papers, but the Dursleys still have legal custody over you. That means there is going to have to be a trial." Harriet blinked.

"Well, that's not so bad, is it?" she said, mostly trying to convince herself. "We'd just need to prove to the court that the Dursleys aren't suitable guardians, right?" Mr. Weasley nodded, still looking slightly grim.

"I know that you wanted to keep this relatively quiet, Harriet. I'm sorry that we're now going to need to go through all the legal hassle. I didn't even want to tell you now, it being your birthday, but I assumed you would want to know." Harriet shrugged.

"It's okay. It could be a lot worse." Mr. Weasley placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Thank you for doing this for me. Really, thank you so much." Mr. Weasley nodded.

"We would do the same for any other child, Harriet. Always." Harriet gave a smile, which Mr. Weasley returned and walked away. Harriet went inside to play chess against Ron, and actually managed to lose after taking out a third of his pieces. This was an a great achievement, as she was not a very good chess player. They went outside to play some Quaffle Tag, and then a round of Exploding Snap before dinnertime. After that, Harriet went upstairs early, fully intent on sleeping through the night, possibly taking a chance to look through her photo album first while curled up in bed.

Problem is, there was already somebody sitting on it.

* * *

**Please let me know what you think? Please?**


	5. Dobby

**Don't kill me for the wait. Please. I literally did not have a chance to start writing this until yesterday because of school, gift shopping, family reunions, and overall lack of sleep. I'll have the next chapter up soon, promise. And by 'soon' I mean within the week.**

**A great big thank you to Legionary Prime, Severus-Snape-Forever-Young, RedRoseMana, Miyu Hinamori, yvonna, kchurchy85, and all of my other silent readers. Your continued readership makes me happy. Another big thank you to Fergus Mason for 'Brit-checking' my story and helping me with all the British terms.**

* * *

Harriet stared at the figure sitting on her bed. It was tiny, and would probably only come up to Harriet's knee had it been standing on the same level as she was. As it was now, it only came up to her waist since it was sitting on the bed. It had a beige sort of skin color, large, floppy, bat-like ears, and wide green eyes the size of tennis balls. It wore what looked like a pillowcase, with rips in it for arm, leg, and neck holes.

"Um, hello..." she said, thoroughly confused.

"Oh, hello Harriet Potter ma'am! So long has Dobby wanted to meet you, ma'am... Such an honor it is, such an honor..." Harriet blinked.

"Okay?" she said, drawing the word out. She wanted to ask "What are you?" but decided that would be too rude. "Thank you... Um... Who are you?" The thing bounced on the bed happily.

"I is Dobby, ma'am! Dobby the house elf!" Harriet blinked again. Dobby the house elf stood up on her bed and bowed to her. "Tis a great honor to see Harriet Potter ma'am, a great honor indeed!"

Harriet slowly sat down next to Dobby the house elf, too stunned to say anything.

"Okay...?" she repeated, confused. "Um... Not that I'm not... pleased... to meet you, but why are you here?" Dobby blinked his large eyes and sighed.

"Oh, yes ma'am, but tis such a long story. Dobby wonders where to begin, ma'am..." Harriet noticed that Dobby was still standing there, fiddling with his pillowcase.

"Why don't you sit down-"

But apparently, this was a mistake, since the house-elf suddenly and unexpectedly burst into loud, noisy tears.

"Um..." she said, trying to be comforting yet get Dobby to quiet down at the same time. She heard footsteps outside her door, and then Fred poked his head in. The expression on his face was rather comical, and Harriet smiled slightly, before looking at Dobby with a slightly panicked expression.

_'What the heck is going on?'_ he mouthed. She shrugged. Sighing, Fred went over and knelt down, looking Dobby in the eyes.

"Quiet," he said firmly, and Dobby instantly fell silent, looking around with now watery eyes. "Okay, Harriet, why on Earth is there a house-elf here? We don't own one, and I'm sure the Dursleys didn't." Harriet snorted at that mental image before responding.

"I came in here, planning on sleeping and looking at my photo album, but Dobby was sitting on the bed. So I was just trying to figure that out." Fred looked down at the house-elf.

"Er... Dobby, was it? Well, Dobby, why are you here?" Dobby's eyes widened, and he started to speak in a hushed whisper.

"Dobby must protect Harriet Potter, must warn her, even if Dobby must shut his ears in the oven door later." Harriet stared, wondering what on Earth _that_ meant, but Dobby continued.

"_Harriet Potter must not go back to Hogwarts!_"

Silence hung in the room for a moment.

"Right," Fred said slowly, looking at the house-elf with a disbelieving expression. "Okay. We'll do that. Come on, Dobby. This way, now." Harriet shot Fred a questioning glance. "We're going to take you to meet my dad. He works in the Ministry, so he can find out who your master is." Dobby's eyes widened.

"Tis not necessary, sir, tis not. Dobby has delivered his message, and sir says that he will prevent Harriet Potter ma'am from going to Hogwarts. Dobby's job is done now. Dobby will be leaving now."

And with a loud 'CRACK!' he disappeared.

The two stared at each other for a long time, attempting to comprehend what just happened.

"Should we tell your dad about this?" Harriet said after a few minutes. "And also, I'd really like to know what a house-elf _is_." Fred nodded, distracted.

"Yeah. To both of those. Come on."

The following conversations left Harriet worried, confused, and yet oddly pleased.

She was confused about the entire concept of house-elves. They were basically slaves, but literally forced to hurt themselves if they disobeyed an order from their master. They were bonded to a family for life, and could not leave the house unless specifically told to.

This led to what made her worried. Dobby had clearly left the house without being ordered, or at least that's what it seemed like. He had told Harriet that she couldn't go back to Hogwarts, and then left. It was eventually decided that someone at school had probably sent the elf to Harriet as a practical joke of some sort, perhaps from a Death Eater family since they had good reason not to like Harriet. However, Harriet still felt an underlying sense of worry and anxiety, as though something big was going to happen in the near future.

The reason she felt pleased was because the Weasleys were worried about her.

Now, out of context, this would sound highly selfish and somewhat ridiculous, but for Harriet it was perfectly understandable. She had never really had anyone to care for her; in fact the only times someone had loved her were probably the past two weeks and the fifteen months that her parents had been alive. She had no memories of her parents, no mother to hug her, no father to play Quidditch with, no little sister to write letters to. The Dursleys would have probably thrown a party if Voldemort had killed her at the end of the year, but the Weasleys were worried. That meant that they _cared_. They actually cared, cared about what happened to her. They wouldn't yell at her to shut up if she had a nightmare; instead, they would make a cup of tea and ask if she wanted to talk about it. She most certainly wouldn't get beat up if she did something wrong, nor locked in a cupboard when they got tired of her. They worried if a strange creature popped into her bedroom spouting warnings instead of hoping that they would never see her again.

They cared, and that would always put a smile onto Harriet's face.

Pushing aside the seemingly meaningless feelings of discomfort, she fell into a content sleep.

* * *

The day of the trial to determine who would hold guardianship over Harriet until she became of age was on the 13th of August, a Thursday, at 2:00 in the afternoon. Harriet had fallen asleep at about midnight, woken up at five o'clock that morning, and tossed and turned until ten (about the time everybody else woke up). Conversation throughout breakfast was awkward and halting, and nobody ate much of anything. The hours between the trial seemed to alternate between speeding by and going so slowly Harriet thought that she would go insane. Lunch went about the same way as breakfast did, but then it was finally time to go.

The entire Weasley family, plus Harriet, went through the Floo to the Ministry of Magic. For once, Harriet was grateful for her red hair, as she blended in quite well. Of course, her dark red hair wasn't an exact match to her hopefully-soon-to-be-family's fiery orange, or really a match at all, but she wasn't drawing all eyes onto herself like she did at Hogwarts.

They appeared in a huge hall, with a dark wooden floor, and panelled walls the same color. The fireplace they had emerged from was on the left side of the hall, and had an ornate, gilded frame. There were a good dozen lining the left side, in which people were coming out of, and on the right, witches and wizards were lining up to leave.

In the center of the hall stood a huge golden statue, with a gold, Merlin-esque wizard standing tallest out of all of them. A witch in a fancy dress, a centaur with a quiver and bow, a goblin, and a house-elf were all looking up at the wizard in adoration. The witch and the wizard each held wands from which steady streams of water were pouring out of, much like the _Auguamenti_ spell. Water came out of the house-elf's ears, the centaur's arrow, and the tip of the goblin's hat, so that the steady trickling of water mixed in with the gently lull of the moving people. Together, they moved towards a huge golden gate at the end of the hallway. Harriet, trying to take everything in, settled for looking at the blue ceiling. It wasn't as impressive as the ceiling at Hogwarts, she mused.

As they passed the fountain, Harriet decided that she'd throw ten Galleons in there (the proceeds went to St. Mungo's Hospital, whatever that was) if she actually got to stay with the Weasleys. Then they pulled out of the main stream of people and moved over to a desk which said SECURITY in large letters.

They each handed the bored-looking, badly shaven man their wands. He told them what their wands were made of, then told them to move on. They then crowded into the lift and went down, down, down, until they reached level two.

Together, they went through the hallways until they came to a large, double set of oak doors.

"Here we go," Mr. Weasley said, clapping his hands together. "The Wizengamot Administration Chambers, this is where we need to be. Remember Harriet, this isn't much. All we need to do is prove that the Dursleys are unsuitable guardians, and then we can easily get you into custody, okay?" Harriet nodded. Her stomach was doing flip-flops, and she wasn't sure if she was going to throw up or not.

"Molly, dear, I'm afraid you'll need to wait with Percy and Ginny outside. They only want people who can provide ample evidence." Ginny looked slightly put-out, but they all nodded. "Come on, then. Harriet, Ron, Fred, George, let's go."

Mr. Weasley pushed open the doors and stepped inside. Ron went next, then the twins, and finally Harriet, coming in slowly and last.

She really hoped this went smoothly.

* * *

**I swear to you, the next chapter will be up within the week, 'kay? Thursday, probably. I'll lock myself in my room with my laptop and not leave until the chapter is done, if it makes you feel any better. Review, please!**


	6. The Trial

**Sorry if this isn't very good. It was written in the middle of a heat wave, with the temperature at 90-plus degrees and without air conditioning. **

**A big thank-you to Fergus Mason for Brit-checking my story and filtering out any American terms that may have slipped in, and a thank-you to all my other readers and reviewers. You make me happy.**

* * *

Harriet glanced around nervously, taking in the large room. It was paneled in dark wood, just as the main entrance to the Ministry was, except there was a large table shaped like a shallow U in the front of the room. It curved outwards, looking slightly imposing. Several people sat behind the table. There was an older woman with a monocle in the center, a woman with a quill and a long sheet of parchment, a man holding a stone basin, a man who looked decidedly Muggle with a suit and briefcase, and on the left–

_Oh, **Merlin!**_

Harriet's mind suddenly went blank, a million thoughts racing through it at once. She was dimly aware of following Ron and sitting down, but she was really only focused on one thing.

The Dursleys were here.

Vernon and Dudley looked absolutely terrified, and Petunia looked frightened and defiant. Harriet couldn't tear her eyes away. Fred and George, who were sitting on either side of her, glanced at one another before giving her a brief shake. She jumped and looked at them.

"They're here," she whispered. "I didn't know they'd be here." George shrugged.

"I suppose we should have known that they'd be here," he whispered back. "You can't have a hearing without the prosecutors and the defenders. I think. I'm not good with law." This succeeded in bringing a tiny smile onto Harriet's face, which brought some comfort to the twins. They all stopped talking as Monocle Woman stood up.

"I call this meeting to order on Thursday, August 13th, 1992, at 2:02 PM. We are here to discuss the guardianship and treatment of Harriet Lily Potter, born Thursday, July 31st, 1980." The blonde woman with the quill and parchment starting writing furiously. "Amelia Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, leader of the hearing. Scribe, Ms. Jo Rowling. Representative from the Department of Child Welfare, Mr. Paul White. Representative from the Muggle world, Mr. Justice Peter Zibrol.

"Prosecutor, Harriet Potter. Witnesses for the prosecution, Arthur Weasley, Ron Weasley, Fred Weasley, and George Weasley. Defense, Vernon Dursley, Petunia Dursley, Dudley Dursley. Witnesses for the defense, none. Mr. Arthur Weasley, please stand."

Mr. Weasley stood up, nodded, and cleared his throat.

"Do you swear that you will tell the truth and only the truth?"

"I do."

"Good. Mr. Weasley, you stated that your sons flew to Surry to retrieve Ms. Potter. Is this true?"

"My third oldest children, Fred and George, flew to Surrey where Harriet lived to rescue her as they had suspicions about her treatment at home." Jo continued to write on the parchment. Bones nodded.

"And do you know why these 'suspicions' took form?" He nodded again.

"Harriet spoke to them at the end of the school year, saying to come and get her if she hadn't written to them in two weeks. She was then taken back to the car by her uncle, who they said she seemed frightened of." Bones nodded again.

"You may sit down. Messrs. Fred and George Weasley, do you swear to tell the truth and only the truth?"

The twins stood up, looking nervous for once, and nodded in unison.

"Yes ma'am," they said together.

"Can you verify these suspicions?"

"Yes ma'am," Fred said. "Harriet pulled us aside-"

"-after we had gotten off of the Hogwarts Express-"

"-and basically begged us to come and get her-"

"-if she hadn't written within two weeks."

"Then her uncle told her she had chores to do-"

"-and took her back to the car." Harriet really hoped that the people wouldn't mind their twin-speak. Bones nodded yet again.

"Thank you. You may sit." They sat down. "Mr. Ron Weasley?" Ron, looking incredibly pale, stood up.

"Do you swear to tell the truth and only the truth?"

"Y-Yes ma'am."

"Did you go with your brothers to retrieve Ms. Potter?" Ron shook his head.

"No. Ma'am. I was waiting at home. Harriet looked awful when she got there, though."

"And did Ms. Potter ever mention anything about her home life?" Ron blinked, then nodded, unsure.

"She... she mentioned that she wasn't used to getting presents, once, so I wrote home to Mum. She sent up a sweater and some fudge. I didn't really think anything about it then, but it makes sense now."

"And what about Ms. Potter's appearance made you think she was being mistreated?"

"She – she was really thin, like she hadn't been eating, and she was really sunburned. She looked exhausted, too. Ma'am."

"You may sit." Ron sat down gratefully.

"Messrs. Fred and George Weasley, you were at Ms. Potter's house. Was there anything there that made you think she was being mistreated?" Fred actually snorted, then visibly held back a sarcastic comment.

"There were bars on her windows, locks and a catflap on the door, outdated soup cans in the room-" Fred started.

"-absolutely no pictures of her anywhere in the house, all of her things had been put in a cupboard underneath the stairs-" George continued.

"-said cupboard had far too many locks on it for a cupboard, and there was a mattress inside underneath all of the things. A few drawings scratched into the side of the wall as well." Harriet stared at her hands, refusing to look up, but if she had she would have seen that Bones looked absolutely furious. Instead, she focused on a small beetle that was walking across the floor.

"You may sit." They sat.

"Messrs. Vernon and Dudley Dursley, Ms. Petunia Dursley, do you have anything to say in defence for yourselves?" Bones practically hissed. Petunia stood up, whiter than a sheet and clutching her handbag tightly, but defiant.

"Yes, I do."

"Do you swear to tell the truth and only the truth?"

"Yes."

"Speak."

"My sister hardly spoke to me after entering your freakish world," she spat. "She kept drifting away, and then she went off and married that Potter man. I didn't hear from her for four years until the girl was dropped on our doorstep with a letter saying that my sister was dead at the hands of another freak and since we were the closest living relatives then we had to take care of her! I was unemployed and Vernon wasn't getting the largest salary at the time, and then we had to take care of another child! It may not excuse everything we did, but I was certainly justified in some of it!" She sat down with a huff, and Harriet turned over her words in her head.

She supposed, that when you put it like that, her treatment was sort of justifiable. Petunia had every right to hate her, but... No, locking a child in a cupboard for a decade and treating them as their slave was not a good way to take out your hatred.

Bones watched Petunia with an unreadable expression for a few long moments before she spoke.

"Is that all you have to say?" Petunia nodded shortly. "Very well. Mr. Zibrol, as our representative from the Muggle world, what would you say about the Dursleys punishment as dictated by Muggle law?" The man stood up and cleared his throat.

"I believe that in a... Muggle... court, Mr. Dudley Dursley would be sent to the closest living relative provided that they will provide a good home, and that Mr. and Mrs. Dursley will serve twenty years in Muggle prison. This is up for further debate, however." Bones nodded.

There will be a fifteen minute recess while the court deliberates and in which further evidence from either side may be brought forward. Dismissed."

Harriet blinked as the small group left into a door in the front of the room, and a man escorted the Dursleys into a room off one side and another escorted her and the Weasleys into the opposite room.

"Is that it?" she asked when they were sitting down. "I thought it would be... different." Mr. Weasley shrugged.

"Well, wizarding law is certainly different than Muggle law, and the courts, from what I've heard, are extremely different. I believe that some poloticians in our world, however, are... prone to... suggestions."

"Bribery?" they all asked, then looked at one another in surprise. Mr. Weasley chuckled.

"Yes, I suppose. However, Amelia Bones is not one of those people, so I didn't think that it was something I should mention with a handful of the few reputable people so close by." Harriet blushed slightly, and the tips of Ron's ears went red. The twins just shrugged, smiling awkwardly.

"But it really did seem somewhat formal for what was said..." Ron frowned. Mr. Weasley looked at his son.

"I've never been to a hearing like this, so I don't know if this is customary or if their making a special exception because of who Harriet is." Harriet just sighed.

"So the man in the suit-"

"-was from the Muggle world?" Fred and George chorused.

"I think so," their father responded. "I wonder if he'll answer some of my questions about Muggle technology...?" The children laughed at his hopeful expression.

"I didn't realize that the Dursleys would be here, though," Harriet said quietly. "They even brought Dudley along. I kind of feel bad for him, really. It was his parents' fault that he was like that." George sighed.

"It is, isn't it?"

Several minutes later, full of pointless conversation or comfortable silence, there was a knock on the door and they were escorted back into the room.

* * *

**I am never writing a trial/hearing again. Ever. That was a lot more difficult to do than you'd think. Next chapter has the verdict. Review and let me know it was worth it?**


	7. Diagon Alley

**For the record, writer's block is a terrible, terrible thing. The only thing to have some effect against the gripping claws of this horrible disease is feedback from readers of a story, given to the author as a gift of appreciation. Please, save the writers, give feedback today.**

**Virtual cookies to anybody who spotted my references in the last chapter.**

**A great big thank you to all of my readers and reviewers, signed, anonymous, and silent, and to Fergus Mason for Brit-checking my story. Your continued support makes me happy!**

* * *

The group slowly filed out into the room, sitting down in their respective chairs. Bones stood up at the front and cleared her throat.

"We have deliberated, and decided that the abysmal treatment of Ms. Potter over the course of the past decade demands that she be removed from the Dursley household at once and placed into a suitable environment." Fred and George instantly grasped her hands, holding them tightly. They looked like they wanted to get up and start bouncing in happiness, although Harriet was _quite_ grateful that they didn't. "In light of the fact that Ms. Potter's remaining relatives cannot care for her, and her godparents cannot care for her, I have custody documents right here that need to be signed. Mr. Weasley, you may do so if you wish to hold custody of Ms. Potter." Mr. Weasley and Bones exchanged a nod. "Very well. If further charges wish to be formed against the Dursley family, please take them to the Sub-Department of Muggle Relations in the Department of Child Welfare. Court dismissed."

The Dursleys were escorted out, and everything after that was basically a blur to Harriet. She was vaguely aware of signing some documents, being hugged numerous times by the people who she supposed were now her brothers, Bones ordering that Harriet be taken to St. Mungo's for a physical evaluation as soon as possible... Mrs. Weasley and Ginny were squeezing her so hard in their hugs that she couldn't breathe...

She collapsed onto her bed with a smile on her face as they got home. It was just really sinking in.

_She had a family._

Grinning widely, she glanced over at a photo of her mother and father smiling and waving at her.

"I'm happy now, Mum, Dad," she said, watching them. "I'll never go back there again."

* * *

She wrote out a letter to Hermione and Neville, next, feeling slightly guilty she hadn't done so beforehand. She told them everything that had been mentioned in the trial, but didn't go into the details. People didn't need to know that. Well, not yet, at any rate. Once she had sent Hedwig off with the letter, she bounced downstairs, looking forward to the rest of the day much more then she had been.

The next day rolled around, everyone waking up somewhat late since they had been talking and laughing late into the night. Mrs. and Mr. Weasley, along with Harriet, Percy, and Ginny were the first up and the first to eat, followed by a pair of yawning twins and a not-really-awake Ron.

Sipping her orange juice, Harriet picked up a copy of the _Prophet_ and promptly spit it out onto her breakfast.

"Well, so much for keeping it all quiet," she sighed, scanning the article. Fred and George straightened, looking more awake, and peered over her shoulders to read, frowning deeply as they did.

_**GIRL – WHO – LIVED ABUSED**_

_Rita Skeeter_

_In a hearing yesterday, located in the Ministry of Magic with few people allowed, it was discovered that Harriet Potter, the Girl – Who – Lived, was abused by her Muggle relatives._

_There have been cases of abuse before in the wizard world, something of which we are not proud of, but it has never before been seen on a scale like this. Ms. Potter was worked like a house-elf since she could walk, forced to do all manners of chores at the hands of her so-called 'relatives'. Two of her school friends at Hogwarts flew to rescue her, knowing she had been abused but not doing anything about it until then. When questioned, they replied that Ms. Potter appeared to have been locked in various rooms for long periods of time, one being a bedroom upstairs and the other being a simple cupboard underneath the stairs._

_These Muggles refused to allow Ms. Potter any contact with the outside world, locking her owl up in a cage and all of her school supplies underneath the stairs. She was starved and forced to work ridiculous hours in the summer heat._

_Muggles may seem peaceful, but can we really allow them, and their children to know of and enter our world? I leave you to ponder that question._

"But how did-"

"-she find out?" the twins exclaimed, causing Ron to snatch the paper out of her hands and scan the article, then swear. Mrs. Weasley slapped his hand with a wooden spoon, and the paper was passed around the table. Mrs. Weasley sighed.

"I'm sorry, Harriet dear," she said. "I really have no idea how anybody found out about this." Harriet shrugged.

"She messed up a bunch of facts, too," George muttered. "We didn't know a thing about this, and they didn't have you waiting hand and foot on them since you could walk-" He paused and glanced over at her. "Right?" Harriet shook her head.

"No!" she said firmly, truthfully. "No, they didn't." _The y had me weeding the garden since I was old enough to use lawn tools without killing myself. There's a difference._

"And this!" Ron said, pointing to a line. "It hurts to say it, but I'm fairly sure that something like this has happened before, but we just don't like to admit it."

"Well, waddya know?" Fred started.

"Ronnie's getting smart!" George cooed. Ron glared, but they got a small smile out of Harriet.

"What if this affects Hermione?" Harriet asked suddenly. "That last line, there, looks like a bit of an insult towards Muggles and Muggle-borns." Mr. Weasley cleared his throat, causing the table to look over at him.

"I am sorry about this, Harriet," he started, and Harriet shrugged again.

"It's fine, really. I'm used to people staring at me. Did you know that there was this one Hufflepuff who kept following me around last year? Kept asking me to sign stuff." It was a weak attempt at humor, but it caused a few laughs and broke the tension.

Breakfast continued on as normally as it could, followed by a normal day.

The next day, the large group all went through the Floo into Diagon Alley. They had their booklists for school (all books by Gilderoy Lockhart, and rather expensive ones too; Harriet would make sure she paid for her own) and some pocket money. Each of the Weasley children had a few Sickles, Harriet had a couple leftover Galleons from last year, but she wanted to stop by her vault anyway.

The all landed in the Leaky Cauldron, and Harriet shifted so she was in the center of the group and hoped she didn't stand out. Mr. Weasley smiled at Tom, the bartender.

"Anything today, Molly? Arthur?" he asked. They shook their heads.

"No, Tom," Mr. Weasley said kindly. "We need to pick up school supplies for the kids. Bit late, although I suppose there will be some things left."

They passed through the magical barrier between the pub and the Alley, and then they split up into groups.

"Alright," Mrs. Weasley called. "Ginny, you come with me. Arthur, you take Harriet. Fred, George, look after Ronald, okay? We'll all meet up at Flourish and Blotts in two hours!" Mr. Weasley nodded, and they split up.

"So, where to first?" Mr. Weasley asked, rubbing his hands together.

"Could I stop by my vault?" Harriet asked quietly. "It'll only take a moment..."

"We can pay-" Mr. Weasley started, but Harriet shook her head.

"It's fine. I'll pay for my own things, it's the least I can do."

She had a small fortune sitting deep underneath London... probably more than all of the Weasleys had combined.

"Good," Mr. Weasley said cheerfully. "I need to get money from the vault, anyway." Thankfully, on the way there, nobody noticed her since she kept her head tilted down with her fringe covering her scar and the rest of her hair covered her face.

They went up the white marble stairs, through the doors, and to an empty desk behind which a goblin stood, writing on parchment. A nameplate read out 'Hammerclaw' Harriet waited in respectful silence, shuffling a bit but not saying anything. She didn't want to interrupt if it was something important.

A minute later, the goblin looked up and gave a toothy grin which made her shudder.

"I'd like to visit my vault, please," she said, holding out her key in the palm of her hand.

"As would I," Mr. Weasley added, doing the same. The goblin snatched the keys away, scrutinizing them, then nodded.

"Stonetooth!" Hammerclaw snapped, and a second goblin came over. "Escort them to Vault 687 and 412." Harriet and Mr. Weasley climbed into the vault cart, following the goblin. Down and down they went, until they stopped in front of the Weasleys vault. Harriet frowned as she saw the small pile of Sickles and Knuts along with a single Galleon, and frowned even more when Mr. Weasley scooped up the whole lot and placed it into a pocket.

They went to Harriet's vault next, and she quickly gathered up a small bag full of Knuts, Sickles, and Galleons while Mr. Weasley watched on and the goblin stood impatiently. She felt rather uncomfortable now that she knew that the amount of money she had was at least a hundred times what a family of seven, now eight, had to live off of.

They first went to Madam Malkin's, where she was fitted for her own clothes.

She was measured by Madam Malkin once again, and the short witch was once again dressed in muave. Sitting down to wait for her robes to be made, Harriet had just barely finished thinking how lucky she was not to have been on the recieving end of any stares or pitying looks when Neville came in, followed by his Gran. The elderly woman wore a green velvet dress with a red handbag and a vulture hat, and nodded when she saw Harriet. Neville, on the other hand, gasped and started talking a mile a minute.

"Merlin, Harriet, you're okay! Gran saw the _Prophet _this morning and was absolutely _livid_, I found out when I was in the greenhouse and nearly broke a bunch of pots. But seriously, are you alright? I heard and I was freaking out; it didn't say where you were or-"

"Neville!" Harriet said, shaking his shoulders. "I'm right here. I'm fine. I'm staying with the Weasleys. I'm not stuck in the hospital or anything, and the paper got a lot of facts wrong in the first place. It wasn't as bad as they said."

"Oh, so you weren't locked in a cupboard then?" he said in relief. "That's good." Mr. Weasley came to the rescue, thankfully, and placed a gentle hand on Harriet's shoulder.

"Thank you for your concern, Neville, it is greatly appreciated. Harriet and I must be going, though. Perhaps we could meet you at Flourish and Blotts in..." He quickly checked his pocketwatch. "An hour?" Neville looked at his Gran, who nodded.

"Sure! Thank you, Mr. Weasley! See you later, Harriet!" Harriet ignored the now stunned and pitying looks from the workers in the clothing store.

Mr. Weasley bought some Floo powder, since he said that they were running low. Then they got a package of new quills and ink, along with a second inkpot and some treats for Hedwig. Then they doubled back to Madam Malkin's to pick up the freshly-made robes for Harriet, and by that time they needed to rush to Flourish and Botts so they wouldn't be late.

"He wrote the whole booklist, right?" Harriet questioned. Mr. Weasley started to nod, but then Harriet was nearly knocked over and received a faceful of brown hairs as Hermione tackled her in a hug.

When they got there, a huge line was pouring out the door. A large sign overhead read out:

**GILDEROY LOCKHART**

**will be signing copies of his autobiography**

**MAGICAL ME**

**today 12:30P – 4:30P.M.**

"He wrote the whole booklist, right?" Harriet questioned. Mr. Weasley started to nod, but then Harriet was nearly knocked over and received a faceful of brown hair as Hermione tackled her in a hug.

"Harriet!" she said, her voice muffled due to the fact her head was buried in Harriet's shoulder. "I thought I saw you leaving Gringott's, but I wasn't sure, and I got a subscription to the _Daily Prophet_ so I heard about what happened to you and I was so _worried, _it didn't say if you were okay or where you were or even who had rescued you and then I just got your letter this morning but couldn't you have just written sooner, I mean, really-"

"Hermione!" Harriet said in the same tone she had used on Neville. "I'm okay. I'm right here, see? Are those your parents?" Hermione's eyes narrowed at the abrupt topic change, but she responded anyway.

"Yeah, that's my mum and dad. Hey, over here!" she shouted, waving her arm. A nice-looking young man and woman came over, shook hands with Mr. Weasley and then, to Harriet's surprise, both wrapped Harriet in a hug.

"We heard about how you saved my little girl's life," Mr. Granger said kindly. "Thank you for that." Harriet blushed the color of her hair.

"It's fine, really. That's what friends do, right?" They just smiled at her. Neville came and joined their group then, saying that his Gran was off in the Apocathery and couldn't be here.

They all squeezed their way inside, leaving the adults to talk while they looked for a quiet corner in which they could catch up on current events. That looked to be a rather difficult task, however, since the whole store was packed full lining up to see Gilderoy Lockhart.

Harriet could see him in person, now, through the crowd. He had rich, natural blonde hair, sparkly blue eyes like Dumbledore's, and a smile that was incredibly bright. He wore bright blue robes and had a matching hat perched crookedly on his head. She supposed he was good-looking, but it wouldn't do any good to fawn over him like most of the witches in the store seemed to be doing, including Hermione, since-

"Hermione?" Harriet questioned, snapping her friend out of the dreamy expression she seemed to be wearing.

"Hm? Oh, sorry Harriet. Come on, there's an open space over there."

They pushed their way over into a corner, where Harriet started talking quietly. An irritable looking man pushed by with a camera emitting purple smoke everywhere. The twins and Lee Jordan came through the smoke after that, coughing and muttering, annoyed.

"That's the second time he's stepped on my foot!" Lee announced. "I already bought my books here, and he stepped on me then, too!" The group laughed, and they all quickly caught up on summer events before grabbing _The Standard Book of Spells_ for their required grade level, and slipping into the line. Harriet kept herself to the center of the group, while Lee gave her a quick hug and said he had to go. They were later joined by the Weasley and Granger parents. The man was still bouncing around, mumbling and taking photographs for the _Daily Prophet_ with puffs of smoke.

Finally they were at the front of the line, but Harriet, despite hiding in the center of the group, was noticed by Lockhart.

"Harriet Potter!" he shouted, causing her to jump and the crowd to part. He darted around the table and gripped Harriet's hand tightly, smiling brightly for the cameraman who was now taking pictures of them. Harriet, who was now rather annoyed and completely bewildered, glanced over at the group.

"Nice big smile, Harriet," Lockhart said through his gleaming teeth. Harriet gave a weak smile, still confused. When he let go of her hand, she could hardly feel her fingers. She tried to shift back over to her own group, but Lockhart then pinned her to his side with his arm.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" he announced. "What an extraordinary moment this is! The perfect moment for me to make a little announcement I've been sitting on for some time! When young Harriet here – by the way, dear, I am dreadfully sorry for you – stepped into Flourish and Blotts today, she only wanted to buy a set of my books, which I will be happy to present her, free of charge!" The crowd applauded, some looking sympathetic. "She had no idea," Lockhart continued, giving Harriet a shake of the shoulders that nearly made her glasses fall off, "that she would be getting much, much more than my book, _Magical Me._ She and her schoolmates, will, in fact, be getting the real magical me! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have great pleasure in announcing that this year I will be taking up the post of the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"

Harriet actually smiled a bit, for real, at the disgusted looks on the twins', Ron's, and Neville's faces.

Harriet then found her arms full of a set of books, and she managed to stagger out of the limelight for a moment to dump her books into Ginny's cauldron.

"Here," she said, stretching her fingers. "I'll buy my own, you take these." Ginny grinned.

"Bet you loved that, didn't you Potter?" Harriet turned to glare at Draco Malfoy, who was leaning against a bookcase with his typical sneer. "Famous Harriet Potter. Can't even go into a bookshop without making the front page."

"Leave her alone!" Ginny said angrily, glaring at Malfoy. The twins came up behind her, followed by Ron.

"Best not to pick a fight when you're outnumbered, Malfoy," Ron said coldly. The twins nodded.

"Oh, all of you in a shop at the same time?" Malfoy said with an innocent tone everyone knew wasn't innocent at all. "Bet you'll need to go hungry for months to pay for all of those books, hm?" Ron dropped said books on the ground and lunged forwards, but the twins held him back.

"Ronald!" Mr. Weasley snapped, coming over. "What are you-"

"Well, well, well. Arthur Weasley." A tall, blonde man that could only be Draco's father stood, sneering at them in the exact same way.

"Lucius," Mr. Weasley said coldly.

"Busy time at the Ministry, I hear? Are they paying you overtime for all those extra raids?" he questioned, then reached into Ginny's cauldron and pulled out a battered and worn copy of _A Beginners Guide to Transfiguration_ from amidst the shiny Lockhart books. "Obviously not." Ginny went crimson, and Ron turned a deeper shade of purple. "Dear me, what's the use to being a disgrace to the name of wizard if they don't pay you well for it?"

Mr. Weasley went an even darker red than Ron or Ginny, rivaling Uncle Vernon.

"We have a very different idea of what disgraces the name of wizard, Malfoy," he said coldly.

"Clearly," Lucius Malfoy said, his eyes straying to where Mr. and Mrs. Granger stood, watching with worried expressions. "The company you keep... and I thought your family could sink no lower."

There was a huge crash as Ginny's cauldron of books was knocked aside and Mr. Weasley lunged for Mr. Malfoy. Dozens of spell books crashed down on their heads as the two brawled on the floor, knocking over shelves. The crowd backed up abruptly, knocking even more shelves over. Harriet stumbled backwards into the Grangers, oddly reminded of her early school days where Dudley would pick fights with child after child.

Shouts of "Get him, Dad!" were heard from the Weasley children and Draco, gasps of "Oh no..." from Hermione and Neville, "No, Arthur, no!" from Mrs. Weasley, stunned silence from Harriet and the Grangers, the shopkeeper shouting for them to stop, but loudest of all-

"Break it up, break it up!" Hagrid came wading through the crowd, ducking slightly to avoid the ceiling and pulling Mr. Weasley and Mr. Malfoy apart by their collars.

Mr. Weasley had a split lip while Mr. Malfoy had a black eye from being hit in the face by one of the heavy books that had fallen off of the shelves. He still held Ginny's book, and thrust it back into the cauldron with a disgusted look.

"Take the book girl, it's the best your father can give you." He then pulled himself out of Hagrid's grip and left the shop, Draco following behind.

"Yeh should've ignored him, Arthur," Hagrid said as almost knocked Mr. Weasley off of his feet while straightening his robes for him. "Rotten ter the core, the whole family – no Malfoy's worth listening ter – bad blood, that's what it is – come on now, let's get outta here."

The assistant at the bookshop looked furious at them, but since he only came up to Hagrid's waist, he didn't protest. The group pushed their way out of the shop with the Granger's looking terrified and Mrs. Weasley looking absolutely furious.

"It's okay," Harriet said quietly to the Weasleys while Mrs. Weasley berated her husband for brawling in public like that. "I mean, it's not good that it happened, but it's settled now. The Malfoy's are an old family, pureblood. They're an all-wizard family, and they _really_ don't like Muggles or anyone that comes from a Muggle heritage." The two adults nodded, looking slightly less worried, but slightly guilty.

"So was that fight over us?" Harriet nodded slowly.

"Yeah, but you deserve to be defended like that. You're nice people." She flashed them a smile and then rushed forwards to catch up with her group of friends.

They all stopped for ice cream at Florean Fortescue's, and Harriet payed for everything while nobody was looking. Then they went back to the Burrow via Floo powder, while Neville and his Gran went the same way to Longbottom Manor and the Grangers to their house by use of the bus stop.

* * *

**Review?**


	8. Return to Hogwarts

**A humungous thanks to all of my reviewers, those of you who have put this on their Favorites and Alerts lists, anonymous reviewers and silent readers, and a special thanks to my beta, Fergus Mason.**

**I would like to address an anonymous review I've gotten. A nameless reviewer (there literally wasn't a name) asked if I could possibly give somebody else the Horcrux diary, then recommended Harriet. That idea has SO much potential, but if Harriet gets stuck in the Chamber of Secrets, who would come down to rescue her? So thank you for the suggestion, but I can't really work it into this story. You have given me a fair amount to think about, however.**

**Also, a few people wanted to see certain people's reactions, so I'm going to be posting that in a one-shot after I've posted this chapter. PM or drop a review if you think there's anybody I should add later.**

* * *

_The Burrow  
__Tuesday, September 1st, 1992_

"Boys!" Mrs. Weasley shouted up the stairs. Harriet shook her head as she heard Ron running around chasing Scabbers while the twins had stolen Percy's prefect badge again and were running around with Percy chasing _them._ Harriet had packed the night before, and then helped Ginny pack her things, too. They were currently eating a leisurely breakfast in the kitchen with Mr. Weasley while everybody else ran 'round like headless chickens.

"Thanks for helping me pack everything," Ginny said shyly. Harriet nodded.

"Not a problem," she replied, reaching down and picking up Scabbers as he ran over her feet. She set him down on the table next to Morgana, who was eating some of Ginny's toast. "I found Scabbers, Ron!" she called as Ron ran past the door, out of breath. He let out a sigh of relief.

"Good, that means I can eat!" he said, collapsing at the table, already shoveling food into his mouth.

"Not even a thank-you," Harriet said, shaking her head in mock-sadness. "What do people teach children these days?" Ginny gave a small smile, while Ron didn't even notice since he was so absorbed in his breakfast. The twins came in shortly after with an angry Percy following behind.

"Sit down!" Mrs. Weasley said, practically shoving them into their seats. "And eat quickly! It's already eight-thirty, do you _want_ to miss the train?" The twins shook their heads, but started nodding eagerly when Mrs. Weasley turned her back. Ginny flicked a piece of food at them. Mr. Weasley just watched with an amused smile.

Once they had all finished eating, it was nearing nine o'clock. They dragged all their luggage out the door and piled everything into Mr. Weasley's car, but then Ron forgot his homework and one of the twins actually left their wand inside, so they had to run back in and grab things. Harriet was about to run back in to get her photo album (she had been looking through it again the night before), but George, who had gone inside to get his wand, handed it to her through the window.

"Saw this lying on the desk, thought you might want it," he said with a grin. She nodded brightly. Finally, they were off, arriving at King's Cross just before eleven. Mrs. Weasley almost threw them all through the barrier, and Harriet shook her head in amusement when Ron fell over his trunk, causing a holdup. They all managed to get their things into the train and piled into a compartment just as the train began pulling out of the station. They all waved out the window as the adults waved back, Mrs. Weasley half-crying, half-laughing and Mr. Weasley's arm around her shoulders. They stopped when they could no longer see them.

* * *

Fred and George sat down on one side of the compartment while Ron, Ginny, and Harriet sat on the other.

"Could you tell me what Hogwarts is like again?" Fred raised an eyebrow.

"We've told you a hundred times, Ginny, and I know you've heard the same story from Mum and Dad and Percy and-"

"Ah, humor her Georgie," George said, already aiming to confuse everyone. So they started talking about the food and the Quidditch and the enchanted ceiling in the Great Hall, and that she must _always_ avoid Malfoy and his allies in Slytherin. They had just moved on to the teachers when the compartment door slid open and Lee Jordan, Hermione, and Neville pushed their way in. It was now incredibly crowded with eight people in there, so the twins said that they would find a compartment close by and for them to come yelling if anybody bothered them. Lee gave Harriet an encouraging smile, then left along with the twins so the other five could actually breathe.

Harriet then continued the conversation with Ginny about the teachers, and finished by warning her about the Sorting.

"I dunno what your brothers told you, but you just need to put a hat on your head," she reassured. Ginny smiled brightly.

"Thanks, Harriet! Fred and George were saying I needed to wrestle a troll, but I wasn't sure if I should believe them or not." They chatted aimlessly until Ginny also excused herself to go and find a girl named Luna, a friend of hers.

The four second-years were then by themselves in the comparment, and Harriet and Ron instantly told Hermione and Neville about the Marauder-inspired names they had chosen for themselves.

"Castor and Pollux for the twins?" Neville said, grinning. "Which one is which?"

"Gred is Castor and Forge is Pollux," Harriet said, returning the grin. Hermione looked slightly worried.

"But you could get in trouble for any pranks you pull... Don't you know how many detentions the twins have gotten?"

"A lot," Ron answered. "But come on, Hermione! It'll be fun! With the Cloak and the Map, we'll never get caught. The twins didn't have those before, so of course they got caught some of the time!" Hermione bit her lip, still frowning, but then nodded.

"Okay," she said. "But if we get caught, I'm saying that you kidnapped me." Harriet grinned.

"That's more like it!"

* * *

The trolley came by, and they all happily gorged on candy, taking a break before thinking of names for Neville and Hermione. They even persuaded Hermione to have a box of Every Flavor Beans. Her parents were Muggle dentists, and didn't really approve of eating too much candy.

Then, as they were putting the candy wrappers in a pile, and in Hermione's case, putting a half-empty box of Every Flavor Beans in her bookbag, the compartment door slid open once more to reveal Draco Malfoy, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle.

"Well, what do we have here? Potty with the Squib, the Weasel, and the Filth. I wonder which one is which?" Ron stood up, face bright red, but Harriet pulled him back down as Malfoy started to talk, no doubt to start talking about Harriet's abuse. Harriet quickly cut him off.

"Do any of you hear something?" she said, looking straight past Draco and over at her friends. "It sounds like something squeaking." The other three caught on quickly.

"No, I don't hear a thing," Hermione said. "Perhaps the window is open?" Neville and Ron both got up and made a big show of checking the window while Malfoy grew more and more furious.

"No, it isn't," Neville said, sitting back down. Ron nodded his agreement.

"Not open. Must be hearing things, Harriet." Harriet nodded.

"Yeah, must be. Oh, it looks like we left the door open," she said, standing up. "Must have been when the trolley came by." She then pushed Malfoy out of the compartment and shut the door, locking it. They waited until footsteps outside had ceased before bursting out into hysterical laughter.

"That was brilliant!" Neville said between gasps. Hermione had tears pouring out of her eyes, while Ron was kneeling on the floor, pounding a fist on the seat. Harriet just sat there with a goofy grin, feeling far too pleased with herself.

They all calmed down a good ten minutes later, only to look at one another and start laughing again. When everything had dulled down to the occasional chuckle, Harriet wiped tears of laughter from her eyes and started talking.

"Right," she said, smiling. "Names for Hermione and Neville. Any ideas?"

"Something plant-related for Neville," Ron said instantly. Neville shrugged.

"'Topiarus' is Latin for 'gardner'," Hermione supplied.

"Too obvious. Everyone knows Neville loves plants," Harriet said.

"Topiar?" Neville suggested, abbreviating the word.

"Sounds like caviar," Hermione said, making a face.

"But that's a fancy food," Neville countered.

"It doesn't need to be fancy," Harriet added. "It could be completely random. My dad's nickname was Prongs, could someone tell me how _that_ makes sense?" This caused everyone to go silent and think for a little bit longer before speaking.

"Chaos?" Ron said thoughtfully.

"Neville isn't really a chaotic person," Hermione pointed out.

"Neville _is_ in the same compartment as you," Neville said with a smile. Harriet tilted her head to one side in thought.

"I like it," she said. "Nobody will suspect Neville having that name. How about Hermione?" After suggesting "Morgana" (Hermione didn't want to be named after Harriet's pet mouse), "Chrysanthemum" (this came from Neville, who shrugged at their confused glances), "Athena" (they wanted something original), and "Pandora" (this came from Ron, who quailed under the glare he recieved from Hermione. "What, that's a famous Muggle person, isn't it?" Hermione then proceeded to explain the legend of Pandora, after which Ron apologized), Neville finally came up with "Raven".

"Since she's brilliant enough to be in Ravenclaw," he said. Hermione blushed, but she didn't protest. The names finally agreed on, they moved on to other topics of conversation, from the greenhouses at Longbottom Manor to the new DADA teacher to ranting about the Malfoys.

They went on like this for the rest of the train ride, although Ron did start to complain about being incredibly hungry towards the end.

* * *

The twins and Lee met up with them on their way to the carriages, but the twins froze when they saw the black carriages.

"What is it?" Harriet asked, glancing back at them.

"There are horses-"

"-pulling the carriages," they muttered.

"They haven't been there-"

"-for the past two years." Lee and Harriet looked at them like they were crazy.

"There's nothing there!" Lee said, pulling them into a carriage. "You're seeing things, mates." Harriet glanced over at her three friends with a shrug.

"There are horses," Hermione said slowly. "They're weird. All black and skeletal. I've never read about these before."

"Like death," Neville added in a whisper. Harriet looked at the horseless spaces between the carriages.

"There isn't anything there," she said, looking at them. Her friends stared at her, then back at empty space. Hermione went forward with her hand out, and started petting something that was definitely solid. Harriet went up behind her and touched what felt like invisible skin. She jerked her hand back.

"That's just weird," she muttered. "Come on, we can think about this later. I'm hungry."

So the four went into a different carriage and conveniently forgot about the horses until later. They rode up the path, and Harriet could see the looming, glittering image of Hogwarts castle. It was beautiful.

* * *

They went into the Great Hall, sitting down at the Gryffindor table, and Harriet was staring at the table with a grin on her face, pointedly ignoring the stares and the whispers. She didn't care about all the publicity right now, she was just incredibly excited to be back.

After all the students were situated, McGonagall came in with the Sorting Hat, who opened the rip its brim which acted as a mouth before bursting once more into song.

_Riddle me this, riddle me that_

_For I am the Hogwarts Sorting Hat_

_Just come right up and you will see_

_In which House you ought to be_

_Perhaps in Gryffindor, you'll belong_

_Where go the mighty, brave and strong_

_Or maybe Hufflepuff is where you'll go_

_Hardworking and loyal, through and through_

_But maybe in Ravenclaw, that's where you'll be!_

_You'll never see them with a 'T' or an 'E'_

_You might go into Slytherin, that's possible too_

_Those cunning folk will always do_

_What they need to do_

_So step right up and let me see_

_In which House you ought to be!_

_Let me solve the greatest riddle of all_

_Let me Sort you, one and all!_

The Hall burst into applause, and Harriet leaned over to her friends.

"That was a different song than last year." Ron shrugged.

"It's not like it has anything better to do, sitting around all year. Awfully boring life, a hat." Fred and George nodded their consent. Hermione watched intently.

"Axon, John!" was put into Hufflepuff, who cheered wildly for their new housemate. He was followed by "Barton, Lauren!" who was put into Ravenclaw. The table applauded loudly.

The Sorting seemed to pass rater slowly, about fifteen minutes later only "Hill, Michael!" was approaching the hat and they were only halfway done. Ron's stomach was growling loudly, much to the amusement of the Gryffindors and the second-youngest Weasleys embarrassment.

"Lovegood, Luna" was the girl Ginny had left to find. She had long, blonde hair, but not like Malfoy's platinum. Her skin was pale, and she looked around with wide, silvery eyes. Harriet thought the girl was wearing radish earrings, but she couldn't tell at this distance. The girl was Sorted into Ravenclaw, and she practically skipped over to the table.

Finally, Ginny was called up and approached the hat. She looked surprisingly calm, but Harriet could see her hands clenched into fists under her robes and her wide eyes and pale face. McGonagall placed the hat on her head, and about ten seconds later... "GRYFFINDOR!"

The twins went wild, scooping their sister up into a cheerful hug, then doing a brief dance. Ron grinned, although it was clear he was still preoccupied on food, and Percy shook his sister's hand enthusiastically.

The only person left was a short little girl with black pigtails. McGonagall called her name.

"Zibrol, Juliana!"

"Wasn't that the name of the Muggle person at the trial?" Ron asked, and Harriet flinched slightly as a few people turned to look at them.

"Yeah," Hermione nodded. "That's why they brought him in, since he already knew about magic." About a minute later, the hat made its desicion.

"SLYTHERIN!"

There was a brief silence in the Great Hall before people started to applaud, and it was a rather muted applause at that.

"She'll get torn apart," Harriet heard Angelina mutter sympathetically from a few rows down.

"Poor kid," her friend, Katie Bell agreed.

"Muggleborn in Slytherin," Fred muttered. "Who'd have thought?" Harriet watched as intently as Hermione now. The Slytherins seemed to be giving the girl a wide berth, looking at her either skeptically or with undisguised hatred. Harriet watched as the girl looked over at the Ravenclaw table, where a girl who was probably Juliana's older sister was smiling encouragingly. They had the same hair, the same complexion. It made sense.

Dumbledore stood up, and Harriet almost laughed at the expression on Ron's face – hopeful and

"Welcome, students!" he announced amidst the cheers. "For those of you just joining us, welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry! For those of you returning, welcome back! Before our welcoming feast, I have a few announcements, however. First and foremost, may I introduce our new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, Gilderoy Lockhart!" The entire female population of Hogwarts, minus Harriet, a few Slytherins, and some Muggleborns, burst into ferocious applause while the male population clapped respectively. The man in question smiled and gave a dramatic bow. Snape, who was sitting next to Lockhart, looked rather irritated with him.

"Second, our caretaker Argus Filch has added twenty-eight new items to the list of banned objects. The entire list is posted on the door to his office if anybody wishes to view it or has any questions about said banned items."

"We go and look at it every year," the twins whispered simultaneously. "We want to try and bring at least one of every object in to irritate Filch." Harriet shooed them away, since she was trying to pay attention to Dumbledore.

"-blueberry pancakes," the headmaster finished. Harriet blinked, having missed most of what he just said before that. "Now, let the feast begin!"

It was just as good as she remembered, just as good as Mrs. Weasley's cooking. The treacle tarts were a delicacy, as always, and she made sure to snatch a few before Ron took them all. There was steak and roast pork and stuffed turkey and potatoes and gravy and the peppermint humbugs were _still_ there and the sweet, cold pumpkin juice and all the seasoned vegetables...

Let's just say that it was a perfect way to start off the school year.

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**I would have written more, but it's three-thirty in the morning and I'm so tired I can't sleep, if that makes sense. If you're wondering about why Harriet and co. got to Hogwarts without flying, go reread the chapter with Dobby. You missed a bit.**


	9. Gilderoy Lockhart

**A hugmungous thanks to all of my readers and reviewers, silent, anonymous, and signed. Also, a special thanks to my beta, Fergus Mason for Brit-checking the story.**

* * *

The remainder of the night went by in a blur, and Harriet woke up the next morning to hear the familiar voices of Lavender and Paravati talking loudly about what they would wear and Hermione, who wasn't really a morning person, mumbling for them to be quiet. Harriet just grinned and hopped out of bed, pulling clothes out of her trunk and opening the curtains around Hermione's bed as she went past.

"Come on, Hermione!" she said cheerfully. "Time to get up!" Hermione glared at her from beneath a mound of bushy hair, and mumbled something unintelligible. Harriet just rolled her eyes and pulled the curtains back around her bed so she could change in privacy. She missed the pitying looks from Paravati and Lavender, but perhaps that was all for the better.

She met Ron in the common room, and the trio left for the Great Hall together, Harriet walking between her two friends and talking animatedly. She could see the other two glaring at passerby who found it alright to stare when she wasn't looking, and although she didn't really feel the need to be protected, she loved her friends for it just the same.

Neville greeted them cheerfully as they sat down. Hermione pulled a copy of _Voyages With Vampires_ and propped it up against a milk jug. Harriet grinned at her friend before spooning some porridge into her bowl. Ron had already inhaled a plate overflowing with food and was starting on the second by the time she had gotten everything _on_ to her plate.

"Mail should be coming soon," Neville said. "Gran's sending a few things I forgot."

Sure enough, a tidal wave of owls swooped into the Hall, and Neville received a second Rememberall (he had lost the first one) along with his Potions homework.

"Oh, thank goodness!" he said, sitting down in relief, clutching the parchment. "Snape would've killed me!" Harriet laughed and continued eating. Up at the staff table, several of the teachers were glancing over at her seat every now and again. She was too busy laughing with her friends to notice.

Harriet looked up as Hermione nudged her shoulder, and accepted the outstretched timetable from Professor McGonagall.

"Thank you, Professor," she said with a smile. She could have sworn the older woman's lips twitched in a smile in return.

"Herbology with the Hufflepuffs," Ron stated, looking it over. "At least its not Potions. That'd be a nightmare."

"For you, yes," Harriet agreed. "And every other Gryffindor. Only a bad dream for me." Ron mock-glared as he continud looking at the parchment.

They met Professor Sprout out on the grounds, who was walking alongside Gilderoy Lockhart. Sprout had a patched hat over her frizzy hair, and the amount of dirt on her clothes and hands would have made Aunt Petunia pass out. Harriet would pay to see that. Lockhart was dressed in an eye-watering shade of turquoise, with a matching hat to boot.

"Ah, hello there, students!" he greeted with a wave. "I was just discussing the properties of Devil's Snare with Pomona here. But I don't want you running off with the idea that I'm better in Herbology then she is! I just happened to have met several of these exotic plants on my travels..."

"Greenhouse Three today, chaps," Sprout muttered, not looking at all like her normal, cheery self. There was a murmur of interest, as Greenhouse Three held more dangerous plants that were only used in the upper years. Neville and Hermione could probably list each one, alphabetically, by their Latin names, but they were the only ones in their year. They all filed in through the door, and Harriet's three friends (Neville had joined the small group and was walking alongside them) were once again forming a barrier of sorts. She rolled her eyes at their actions, but muttered a thanks to Ron. Lockhart obviously wanted to talk to her, but Harriet didn't particularly share the inclination.

They all took their seats, and Sprout said that they didn't need their textbooks, which made everyone even more excited. No textbooks generally meant a practical lesson.

"Can anybody tell me the properties of the Mandrake?" was the first question asked. To nobody's surprise, Hermione's hand was the first in the air, followed by a very tentative Neville. "Ms. Granger?"

"Mandrake, of Madragora, is a powerful restorative," her best friend rattled off, sounding as though she was regurgitating the textbook once again. Harriet smiled at her. "It is used to return people who have been transfigured or cursed to their original state." Professor Sprout beamed.

"Ten points to Gryffindor," she said proudly. "The Mandrake is a key ingredient in several potions and antidotes, but it can also be dangerous. Can anybody tell me the reason for that?" Hermione's hand was once again the first up, and yet again followed by Neville. "Mr. Longbottom?" Hermione lowered her hand, looking only mildly disappointed yet happy for her friend, while Neville looked surprised to be called on.

"Well, the cry of the adult Mandrake is fatal to anyone who hears it, while the younger Mandrakes cries will give you anything from a bad headache to putting you out cold for weeks," Neville said quietly, and Professor Sprout's grin became even wider.

"Ten points to Gryffindor," she said. "Now, these Mandrakes here-" She motioned to a few rows of deep trays full of tufted leaves. "-are still young, and therefore will only earn you a night in the hospital wing." Harriet, who tended to get pulled into study sessions with Hermione for next year's exams, knew what the 'cry' of the Mandrake meant, and so therefore wasn't confused when Professor Sprout told them all to take a pair of earmuffs. Harriet managed to get a nice red and silver pair, while Ron looked incredibly put-out since he had a pair of very pink fluffy ones.

"When it is safe to remove them, I will give you the thumbs-up. Right – earmuffs on, make sure they are on securely before you start repotting the Mandrakes!"

Harriet snapped the earmuffs over her ears, and the world instantly went silent. The class watched as Sprout pulled out on of the plants, revealing a screaming angry plant baby with leaves growing out of the top of his head. He had pale green, mottled skin and was obviously screaming at the top of his lungs. Sprout took a large plant pot from under the table and shoved the baby underneath the dark, damp compost, gave them the thumbs up, and removed the earmuffs.

"Again, make sure your earmuffs are securely in place while you work. I will attract your attention when it is time to pack up. There's a large supply of pots here, compost in the sacks over there, and watch out for the Venemous Tentacula, it's teething." She batted away a spiky, dark red plant.

Neville left to pair up with Susan Bones and Hannah Abbot, two of the Hufflepuffs in their year. Harriet, Ron, and Hermione were joined at their tray by a curly-haired Hufflepuff boy that Harriet recognized as Justin Finch-Fletchley.

"Justin Finch-Fletchley," he said happily, shaking Harriet by the hand. "I know who you are, famous Harriet Potter and all that." He beamed at her while Harriet just shook his hand in bemusement. She may hate her fame, but on occasion it was amusing to watch others reactions. "And you're Hermione Granger, top in everything." Hermione beamed as her hand was shaken as well. "And you're Ron Weasley! Hear you're pretty good at chess, yeah?" Ron smiled brightly, pleased to be recognized as well.

"That Lockhart's something, isn't he?" Justin said happily as they started filling the pots with dragon dung compost. "Awfully brave chap. Have you read his books? I'd have died of fear if I'd been cornered in a telephone box by a werewolf, but he just stayed cool and – _zap_ – fantastic!" Harriet smiled again, the boy was obviously a rambler, but she didn't mind. "My name was down for Eton, you know."

"Eton?" Hermione asked. "Really? That's supposed to be a really great school!" Justin nodded.

"Yeah, but I'm so glad I came here instead. Mother was slightly disappionted, but since I made her read Lockhart's books I think she's begun to realize that it'll be real great to have a wizard in the family..."

They didn't have too much time to talk after that, since their earmuffs were back on and they needed to focus on the Mandrakes.

Sprout may have made it look easy, but it wasn't. The plants didn't like coming out of the earth, but they really didn't like being forced back into it. They would lash out with chubby little fists and feet and try and bite your fingers. Harriet spent a good ten minutes in a team effort with Justin trying to get a particularly fat one into a pot.

By the time class was over, everyone was aching and covered in dragon dung. They all hurried up to the castle for a quick wash, then ran off to their next class.

Transfiguration was generally difficult, but Harriet was doing fairly okay. They were supposed to be turning beetles into buttons, and while Harriet managed to make her beetle flat and round and legless, it was still hopping around and looking up at her with black eyes. Hermione managed to get it on her second try, while Ron's wand kept on emmiting puffs of smoke and the beetle managed to run away. Professor McGonagall wasn't pleased when he had to ask for a new one, although Harriet thought she saw something crawl into his bag.

Everyone was relieved to hear the lunch bell, and they all nearly ran out of the room. At lunch, Ron's mood wasn't improved by Hermione showing them the handful of perfect coat buttons in different colors that she'd managed to produce.

"What've we got this afternoon?" Harriet quickly changed the subject before it could escalate into an argument.

"Defense Against the Dark Arts," Hermione replied instantly. Neville arrived just in time to see Ron snatch away Hermione's schedule.

"Why," he demanded, "have you outlined all of Lockhart's lessons in little hearts?" Hermione snatched the paper back, blushing furiously. Harriet just laughed and sat down next to the twins.

"Hello-"

"-O Queen!" they chorused, sliding down the bench so the other three could sit down. Ginny was at the opposite end of the table, and Lee was talking with Oliver about Quidditch. Lavender and Paravati were gossiping, and the whole Hall was filled with talking and laughter. Harriet smiled, thinking of how good it was to be back.

They finished lunch and the twins left for their lesson while the four Gryffindors went out into the overcast courtyard. Hermione instantly sat down on the steps and buried her nose in _Voyages With Vampires_ while Harriet and Ron started arguing over the Chudley Cannons and Neville adamantly stated that the Holyhead Harpies were better. Harriet still didn't have a Quidditch team, but the Cannons weren't very good... at _all_.

"E-E-Excuse me?" stammered a timid voice. Harriet turned around to see the very small, mousy-haired boy from the Sorting last night looking timidly at Harriet with a blush on his face.

"Yeah?" Harriet asked. "You're Colin Creevey, right? That kid who was put into Gryffindor?" Colin's eyes widened, and Harriet knew that she was probably going to have this kid following her around for the rest of the year.

"Oh, _wow_ you actually remember me! That's so cool! Could I have a picture?" Neville turned around and walked over to Hermione, stuffing his fist in his mouth to keep from laughing. Ron followed, containing his amusement only midly more so.

_Thanks, guys__,_ she thought sarcastically.

"A picture?" she repeated, just to make sure she had heard him right. He was holding a Muggle camera, and was now practically bouncing up and down from excitement.

"So I can prove I've met you! Everyone's told me about you! About how you survived when You-Know-Who tried to kill you and how he disappeared and everything and how you've got a lightning scar on your head and a boy in the dormitory said that if I develop the film in the right potion, the pictures'll move and you know all Muggles aren't like that, right?" It took another moment for his words to process, and she nodded, a small part of her glad that despite the hero-worship, she wasn't being treated like glass.

"Yeah, Colin, don't worry. My teachers in primary school, they were nice to me. My relatives just didn't like me, that's all." Colin grinned, continuing to bounce in excitement.

"It's amazing here, isn't it? I never knew all the odd stuff I could do was magic till I got the letter from Hogwarts. My dad's a milkman, he couldn't believe it either, so I'm taking loads of pictures to send home to him. My little brother was happy too, 'cause he's going to be coming here in two years! And it'd be really good if I had a picture of you, maybe you could have a friend take it while I'm standing next to you? Oh, oh, could you sign it? Would you do that? Would you?"

"Signed photos? You're giving out signed photos, Potter?" Harriet closed her eyes as Malfoy's drawling voice floated over, no doubt in revenge for the incident on the train. He was, as always, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle. "Everyone line up! Harriet Potter's giving out signed photos!"

"Why, Malfoy, do you want one?" Harriet retorted, half standing in front of Colin Creevey, almost to protect him. Malfoy glared.

"The day I want a picture of you, Potter, is the day a Malfoy is Sorted into Gryffindor," he scoffed. Harriet shrugged, although now half the crowd in the courtyard seemed to be listening.

"You're just jealous!" Colin piped up, his entire body about as thick as Crabbe's neck. Malfoy snorted, a rather undignified noise to be coming from the Slytherin.

"Eat slugs, Malfoy," Ron snapped, coming up behind Harriet. Hermione had put her book away, and Neville was standing next to Ron.

"Oh, be careful, Weasley, Potter. You don't want to start any trouble or your family's going to have to come and take you away from school. Well, Mummy will, in Weasley's case. Potter, you don't have any family, now do you?" Harriet drew her hand into a fist, about ready to pound the snobbish boy into the dirt, but Lockhart chose that moment to come striding in.

"What's this I hear about fighting, now?" he looked at the Slytherin's, who were smirking proudly, and Neville and Ron, who were holding Harriet's arms in an effort to keep her from doing something stupid and incredibly Gryffindor. Hermione was explaining the whole blood status thing to Colin.

The afternoon bell rang behind them, signaling the start of classes, and Lockhart sent the crowd along while taking Harriet by the shoulder and pinning her close to his side.

"A word to the wise, Harriet," Lockhart said paternally as they entered the building behind all of the others. Her friends were near the back, holding her things and glancing back every other minute. "I don't think starting a fight is the way to go about any of this. I know there was that whole fiasco with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and that lovely scar of yours, but really, it's nothing compared to winning Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award five times in a row."

Now Harriet just couldn't believe what she was hearing, and found herself staring transfixed at Lockhart as they passed through hallways of staring students.

"I know that I probably inspired you to fame when we met back in Flourish and Blotts, and I know that your background does call for some attention-seeking qualities-" Harriet saw red, but Lockhart just kept dragging her along. Behind them, a lantern hanging on the wall exploded, causing a few students to cry out in surprise and scatter. "-but fighting is not the way to go about it. Sure, it gets you attention, but it also gives you a bad rep. You want to get the maximum amount of fame with the least amount of bad publicity! It's simple, Harriet! But you see, Harriet, at your age, the amount of fame I have isn't good for you. Don't want to swell your head so early in life! Offer to take pictures with someone, only sign them if they really ask, but don't make a big deal out of it." They came into the classroom, where Harriet tore out of Lockhart's grip and sat in the back corner, taking her bag from Neville and sitting next to Ron with Hermione on his left, piling all seven Lockhart books in front of her so she wouldn't need to look at the real thing. She was still fuming, and thankfully her friends weren't pressing her.

When everyone was seated, Lockhart cleared his throat loudly and silence fell. He picked up Neville's copy of _Travels With Trolls_ and held it up so everyone could see his winking portrait on the front.

"Me," he said, pointing and winking as well. Harriet rolled her eyes while Hermione was hanging on every word he said. Ron just looked bored, like he was in all classes. "Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defense League, and five-time winner of Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award but I don't talk about that." _Sure you don't, __sir__._ "I didn't get rid of the Bandon Banshee by smiling at her!" He waited for them to laugh, but only a few people smiled weakly, one of whom was Hermione. Harriet just sighed and propped her head up with her fist.

"I see you've all bought a complete set of my books, well done. I thought we'd start with a little quiz, nothing to worry about, just to check how much you've taken in..." He handed out the test papers and returned to the front of the class. "You have thirty minutes. Start... _now_!" Harriet looked down at her paper and sighed.

1. What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favorite color?

2. What is Gilderoy Lockhart's secret ambition?

3. What, in your opinion, is Gilderoy Lockhart's greatest achievment to date?

On and on and on it went, the questions becoming even more ridiculous (15. What type of shampoo does Gilderoy Lockhart use?) until it ended with:

54. When is Gilderoy Lockhart's birthday, and what would his ideal gift be?

Harriet just pulled out her quill and ink and started filling in the ones she knew (she had read the books, after all) and put down random answers for the ones she didn't, such as "Cheese", "A shower curtain", "Llamas", and so on.

Half an hour later, Lockhart collected the papers and rifled through them in front of the class.

"Tut, tut – hardly any of you remember that my favorite color is lilac, it says so in _Year With the Yeti_. And you all need to read _Wanderings With Werewolves_ more carefully – I clearly state in chapter twelve that my ideal birthday gift would be harmony between all magic and non-magic peoples – although I wouldn't say no to a large bottle of Ogded's Old Firewhiskey!"

He gave another wink, and Harriet allowed her head to drop down on to her desk. Ron was now staring at Lockhart with an expression of disbelief on his face. Neville was slowly shaking his head back and forth, while Dean and Seamus, who were sitting in front of Harriet and her friends, were shaking with silent laughter. Hermione was still hanging on his every word.

"Miss Hermione Granger, however, knew my secret ambition is to rid the world of evil and market my own range of hair-care potions – good girl!" Harriet blinked, that was one of the questions she put in a random answer for, although this time she actually got it right. "In fact, full marks! Where is Miss Hermione Granger?"

Harriet nudged her friend out of her daze and she raised a trembling hand.

"Excellent!" Lockhart beamed. "Quite excellent! Ten points to Gryffindor! And so – to business–"

He bent down and lifted a rectangular covered cage onto his desk.

"Now – be warned! It is my job to arm you against the foulest creatures known to wizardkind." Harriet shook her head again, losing whatever interest she might have had. She may not know as much as Hermione, but she'd read about some pretty awful creatures. Boggarts, for one, showed you your worst fear. It was helpful for learning to conquer your fears, since the only way to get rid of it was laughter and a spell to turn it into something funny. Dementors, the guardians of the Azkaban prison, were said to make you relive your worst memories, although the textbook she was reading just showed a creature with a tattered hood. Werewolves, while shunned for their condition despite being perfectly harmless while not during the full moon, would turn into horrifying, bloodthirsty creatures under the moonlight and lost control of their minds. She doubted Lockhart had any of those, although he might have a Boggart in the crate. Although Boggarts liked dark, enclosed spaces and a cage had plenty of gaps in it and wasn't exactly dark... Ron elbowed her in the side, jolting her back to reality.

"...freshly caught Cornish Pixies!" Lockhart was saying dramatically. Harriet starting convulsing with silent laughter, dropping behind her stacks of Lockhart books so no one would see. Ron had the beginnings of a grin, and Seamus Finnigan couldn't control himself and let out a snort of laughter that even Lockhart couldn't mistake for a cry of terror.

"Yes?" he asked, smiling at Seamus.

"Well, they're not – they're not very – dangerous, are they?" Seamus choked on his laughter.

"Don't be so sure!" Lockhart said, waggling a finger. "Devilish tricky little blighters they can be!" Harriet couldn't really see the pixies since she was trying to muffle her laughter, although the brief glimpse she caught of him showed jabbering little electric blue fairy-like creatures about eight inches tall with pointed faces. "Right then! Let's see what you make of them!"

And he opened the cage.

It was chaos of the likes Harriet had never seen before, which was saying something considering the things the twins got up to in their spare time. Two siezed Neville by the ears and hoisted him upwards, several crashed through the windows, showering the back row with glass (no one was injured), grabbed ink bottles and sprayed them everywhere, grabbed books and bags and tossed them out the window...

Within minutes almost the entire class was sheltering under their desks if they hadn't fled the class already, and Neville was swinging from the iron chandelier. Harriet mumbled a _Wingardium Leviosa_ and Neville was brought back to the ground, where he promptly collapsed and hugged her leg. Harriet pushed him under a desk with Dean and Seamus, then fled back to her friends.

"Come now, round them up, they're only pixies!" Lockhart shouted, and Harriet could't resist a retort.

"You didn't tell us how!" she shouted. "You set a bunch of things on us and you didn't tell us how!"

He sighed, rolled up his sleeves, brandished his wand, and bellowed, "Peskipiksi Pesternomi!" It wasn't even a real spell; the only effect was one of the pixies grabbing his wand and throwing it out the window and Lockhart diving under his desk to avoid beign hit by the chandelier, which had been loosened due to Neville's weight.

The bell rang, and the whole class fled for the door. Ron, Neville, Hermione, and Harriet were the last ones out, but in the relative calm that followed, Lockhart straightened up, saw them, and smiled.

"Well, I'll just ask you three to nip the rest of them back into their cage, hm?"

And he fled, slamming the door behind him.

_No_, Harriet thought as Ron and Hermione started bickering and Neville was once again lifted off his feet by the pixies. She cast a quick spell to make sure he wasn't thrown out the window after all the other items. _I do not like Gilderoy Lockhart one bit._


	10. Mudblood's and Murmurs

**A big thanks to all my readers and reviewers, and to Fergus Mason for 'Brit-checking' the story and editing out any American terms that might have slipped in.**

* * *

Harriet spent a large amount of time over the course of the week dodging out of sight when she saw Lockhart coming down a corridor. Colin Creevey seemed to have memorized Harriet's schedule, and would pop up at the strangest times. It seemed to make him the happiest he'd ever been to say "All right, Harriet?" six or seven times a day and hear "Hello, Colin," in return. Harriet was getting incredibly frusterated with the younger boy, but he was only ever around for a minute or two, waving in the hallways and such.

Fred and George pulled their 'welcoming prank' on Lockhart when they had class Thursday, and charmed his robes hot pink. To their amusement, he just admired them and gave ten points to Gryffindor for the set of lovely robes.

They were planning to visit Hagrid Saturday morning, but Harriet was woken up by Angelina Johnson, one of the Chasers for Gryffindor, several hours earlier than she would have liked.

"Whassamatter?" she mumbled, burying her face in her pillow. Angelina just kept poking her head until Harriet rolled over to glare at her. Angelina was looking incredibly groggy, no more awake than Harriet, actually.

"Oliversamatter," she grumbled back. No, the older girl was definitely not awake. "Quidditch practice. Field. Kill Oliver." And she stumbled back out the door. Harriet fumbled around for her glasses and squinted at the window. There was a thin mist hanging across the gold-tinted sky, and Harriet forced herself to get out of bed. Five minutes later, once she had changed and gotten her Nimbus, Katie Bell, a second Chaser, looked in.

"Angelina woke you up?" she asked, looking just a little bit more awake, but not really. Harriet nodded.

"Yeah. Why's Oliver making us get up so early?" The other girl shrugged.

"Wants to make up for last year, since we lost," she said. "Want to help me knock some sense into him? Angelina's helping, and I think the twins might as well. He charmed a _chair_ to fly up the stairs and start hitting me over the head until I woke up, and then he had Spell-o-Taped a note to it that told me what was happening. I'm gonna kill him..." Harriet just rolled her eyes and followed Katie out of door. Wood waved at them brightly while he went up the stairs of the boy's dormitory to wake the twins. Angelina just glared, along with Alicia Spinnet, and they all staggered out of the common room and out to the Quidditch pitch.

When everyone arrived, Wood instantly started off with a lecture on their tactics to practice for this year. Fred and George were leaning up against a wall with Alicia on their left and Harriet on their right. Angelina and Katie were leaning against the opposite wall, yawning. Fred stayed awake for about a minute before his head dropped onto Alicia's shoulder and he began to snore. George's head was resting on top of Harriet's head about a minute later, and Harriet sank into a stupor.

Finally, Wood finished, and broke Harriet out of a lovely daydream about what she could be eating up at the castle for breakfast.

"Any questions?" he asked.

"I've got a question, Oliver," George said, groggily lifting his head up. Harriet moved a half-step away and tried to get his drool out of her hair. "Why couldn't you have told us all this yesterday when we were awake?" Wood was not amused.

"Now, listen here, you lot," he said, glowering at them. "We should have won the Quidditch cup last year. We're easily the best team. But unfortunately – owing to circumstances beyoung our control –"

Wood cut off, obviously still affected by their loss. Harriet shifted, fully aware that she was the circumstance beyond their control, having been in the hospital wing due to Voldemort during the final match.

"So this year we train harder than ever before... Okay, let's go and put our new theories into practice!" Wood shouted, seizing his broom and leading the way out of the locker rooms. Stiff-legged and still yawning, Harriet followed.

They had been in the locker room so long that the sun was entirely up, although mist still clung to the grass and the seats in the stadium. Ron, Hermione, and Neville, who were sitting in the stands, stared.

"Aren't you finished yet?" Ron called incredulously.

"Haven't even started!" she called back, staring jealously at the toast and marmalade Ron had in his lap. "Wood's been teaching us new moves."

She pushed off the ground, feeling the cool morning air whipping against her face, something which would wake her up far quicker than any caffeine. She soared all the way around the stadium, skimming over the seats. Hermione and Ron ducked when she swooped towards them and Neville dove under his seat, but she managed to snatch Ron's toast out of his hand and comfortably sat high above everyone, eating it while the twins laughed and Ron sat in shock.

"Those aren't spies from Slytherin, right?" Wood asked, pointing to Harriet's friends. Harriet stared, as did the twins as they flew over.

"O Great Captain-" Fred started.

"-that is our _brother_-"

"-you accuse of being in-"

"-the House of the Snakes."

"We don't like that," they said in unison, Harriet joining in. Wood had the decency to look ashamed.

"'Sides," Harriet said, looking down at the ground. "They don't need a spy anyway. They're here in person."

Sure enough, several green-clad figures were striding towards them, brooms in hand.

"Flint!" Wood roared as he shot towards the ground, leaping off his broom before his feet even touched the grass and striding up to the Slytherin captain. "This is our practice time! We got up specially! You can clear off now!"

"Plenty room for all of us," Marcus Flint sneered. Angelina, Katie, Alicia, and Harriet stood shoulder to shoulder facing the Slytherins. There weren't any girls on the Slytherin team.

"I booked the field!" Wood snapped. Harriet could see steam coming from his ears. "I booked it!"

"Ah," said Flint, leering at him. "I've got a specially signed note here from Professor Snape. 'I, Professor S. Snape, give the Slytherin team to practice today on the Quidditch field owing to the need to train their new Seeker.'"

"You have a new Seeker?" Wood said, somewhat distracted now.

And from behind the six large figures came a seventh, smaller boy with a wide smirk stretching across his pale, pointed face. It was Draco Malfoy. Harriet glared.

"Aren't you Lucius Malfoy's son?" Fred asked, looking at Malfoy like Malfoy looked at Gryffindors; like something undesirable you just found stuck to the bottom of your shoe.

"Funny you should mention Draco's father," Flint said, the team's grins growing wider. "Let me show you the generous gift he made to the Slytherin team." All seven held out their brooms, where the words _Nimbus Two Thousand and One_ gleamed in the early morning light.

"Very latest model. Only came out last month," Flint said carelessly. "Outstrips the old Two Thousand Series by a considerable amount. As for the old Cleansweeps..." He smiled nastily at Fred and George, both of whom owned Cleansweep Fives. "Sweeps the boards with them."

None of the Gryffindor team could think of anything to say for a moment, but then Harriet snapped out a retort.

"Who'd you pay to come up with that joke for you?" she asked haughtily, returning the smirk. The smile dropped off Flint's face, and he strode over to her, glaring down. She was a good two feet shorter than him, but he had nothing on her uncle when he was angry.

"You listen here, you blood-traitor," he snarled. "You listen closely-"

"Don't-" the twins cut in.

"-you dare-"

"-touch her." Flint glanced up to find that he was almost entirely surrounded by the Gryffindor team, and they only left him a single escape, directly behind him. He grunted and backed off.

"Oh, look," he said. "Field invasion."

Harriet's three friends were coming over.

"Why aren't you guys playing? What's he doing here?" Ron asked, eyeing Malfoy's Quidditch robes.

"I'm the new Slytherin Seeker, Weasel," Malfoy said smugly. "Everyone's just been admiring the brooms my father's bought our team." Ron gaped. "Good, aren't they? But perhaps the Gryffindor team would be able to raise some gold and get new brooms too. You could raffle off those Cleansweep Fives; I expect a museum would buy them." The Slytherins howled with laughter while the Gryffindors fumed, but then Hermione spoke.

"At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in," she said sharply. "Everyone in Gryffindor got in on pure talent." Malfoy's smug look flickered.

"Well no one asked your opinion, you filthy little Mudblood."

Harriet instantly knew that he had said something horrible, since Fred and George were fighting with everything they had to pound Malfoy's face into the ground, except Flint was stopping them. Alicia shrieked "How dare you!" and Ron dove into the fray, wand out. Wood was screaming bloody murder and shouting about unforgiveable while Angelina and Katie held him in place, although they were shouting just as loudly. Harriet pulled her wand out of her pocket, not quite sure about what she should do, exactly, but then there was a huge 'BANG!' that echoed around the stadium. The fighters stopped fighting, and everyone looked over to see Ron holding his wand, the unicorn hair just barely holding it together. Malfoy was staring at his own hands, which now resembled logs in texture, and were oozing something. There was complete silence before Malfoy's hands seemed to fade back to normal, and Ron let out a loud belch, dribbling slugs down his front.

The Slytherin team was paralyzed with laughter, Malfoy literally rolling back and forth on the ground and Flint holding onto his broom to keep him upright. The Gryffindors stared at Ron, and nobody seemed to want to touch him as another wave of wriggling green slugs made its way from his mouth. Harriet grabbed Ron's arm and hoisted him to his feet, motioning for someone to help her. Fred and George snapped out of their shock and moved forwards.

"We can go to Hagrid's hut," Hermione said, motioning towards the exit. "That's closest to here."

Neville took Ron's wand out of his hand before he dropped it, and the six of them began making their way to Hagrid's hut.

"Nearly there, Ron," Harriet said, trying to comfort her friend. "You'll be alright in a minute – almost there –"

They were nearly to Hagrid's hut when Gilderoy Lockhart came out, wearing robes of palest muave.

"Behind here!" Harriet hissed, dragging them all behind a bush.

"It's a simple matter if you know what you're doing!" Lockhart was saying loudly to Hagrid. "If you need help, you know where I am! I'll let you have a copy of my book. I'm surprised you haven't already got one – I'll sign it tonight and send it over. Well, good-bye!" And he strode off.

They waited until he was out of sight before pulling Ron back to his feet and knocking urgently on Hagrid's front door. Hagrid opened it at once, looking rather grumpy, but then his expression brightened.

"'Bin wonderin' when you'd come ter see me! Come in, come in, thought you mighta bin Professor Lockhart again –"

Harriet and George supported Ron over the threshold into the one-roomed cabin, lowering Ron into a chair while Fred, Hermione, and Neville hastily explained what was happening. Hagrid didn't seem perturbed.

"Better out than in!" he said cheerfully, handing Ron a large copper basin. "Get 'em all up, Ron."

"I don't think there's anything to do except wait for it to stop," Hermione said anxiously, watching Ron bend over the basin.

"We learned about it in Charms," the twins said in unison, doing their best not to get dog slobber all over them. "It's a difficult spell normally, but we think his wand snapped before he tried it..." Harriet knelt down next to the twins and being petting the boarhound.

"What did Lockhart want, Hagrid?" she asked. Hagrid frowned as he began making tea.

"Givin' me advice on gettin' kelpies out of a well," he growled. "Like I don' know. An' bangin' on about some banshee he banished. If one word of it was true, I'd eat my kettle." It wasn't normal for Hagrid to criticize a Hogwarts teacher, and they all looked at him in surprise except for Ron, who had his head in the bucket. Fred moved up to put a hand on his shoulder.

"I think you're being a bit unfair," Hermione said in a voice slightly higher than normal. "Professor Dumbledore obviously thought he was the best man for the job-"

"He was the only man for the job," Hagrid said, setting down some treacle fudge. "An' I mean the on'y one. Gettin' very difficult ter find anyone fer the Dark Arts job. People aren't too keen ter take it on, see. They're starting ter think it's jinxed. No one's lasted long for a while now. So tell me-" Hagrid jerked his head at Ron. "-who was he tryin' ter curse?"

"Malfoy called Hermione something – must have been really bad 'cause everyone went wild," Harriet explained. Ron lifted his head up, but the twins shook their heads.

"Don't talk right now, Ronniekins," they said in unison. George pushed his head down into the bucket. Fred turned to Hagrid.

"He called her 'Mudblood' Hagrid," Fred spat. "He called her a filthy little Mudblood, and I think I managed to punch him, but I'm not sure." Hagrid ignored the last part, growing outraged.

"He didn'!" he growled.

"He did," Hermione said. "But I don't know what it means. I could tell it was really rude, but –"

"It's about the most insulting thing he could think of," gasped Ron, coming back up from the bucket. "Mudblood's a really foul name for someone who is Muggle-born – you know, non-magical parents. There are some wizards – like Malfoy's family – who think they're better than everyone else 'cause they're pureblooded." He burped, and a single slug feel in the bucket.

"It doesn't make a difference," Neville said. "I mean, I'm pureblood, and I can hardly stand a cauldron the right way up."

"Yer too hard on yerself, Neville," Hagrid said, clapping Neville on the shoulder and causing him to fall to his knees. Hermione helped him back up.

"It's a disgusting thing to call someone," the twins snarled. "Dirty blood. Common blood. It's ridiculous."

"Most wizards these days are half-blood, anyway, like Harriet here. If we hadn't married Muggles, we'd've died out," George said.

Ron ducked out of sight quickly again as more slugs came up.

"Well, I don' blame yeh fer tryin' ter curse him, Ron," Hagrid said sympathetically. "Bu' maybe it was a good thing yer wand backfired. 'Spect Lucius Malfoy would've come marchin' up ter school if yeh'd cursed his son. Least yer not in trouble."

Harriet would have mentioned that vomiting slugs was about as bad as getting in trouble with the Malfoy's, but she was trying to unstick her jaw from Hagrid's fudge.

"Are yeh sure that fighting's the way ter fame, Harriet?" Hagrid asked, and Harriet stared, remembering her conversation with Lockhart. Her friends started laughing at the expression on her face, and Hagrid broke into a grin. "I'm on'y jokin', Harriet," he said, patting her on the shoulder and driving her face into the table. "I told Lockhart he was a righ' idiot fer thinkin' yeh'd do somethin' so ridiculous. Yer more famous than him without tryin'." Harriet sat up and rubbed her chin, finally free to move her mouth.

"Bet he didn't like that," she said with a small smile.

"Don' think he did," Hagrid replied, eyes twinkling. "An' then I told him I'd never read one o' his books, an' he decided ter go." Harriet, the twins, Neville, and even Hermione laughed.

"Treacle fudge, Ron?" Hagrid offered as Ron lifted his head up again, shakily wiping some sweat off his forehead.

"No thanks," he said weakly. "Better not risk it."

Hagrid showed them the pumpkins he was growing for the Halloween feast, which Harriet suspected that he was helping along with magic, and then it was time to head back to the castle for lunch. Ron only brought up two small slugs on his way, back, while moaning over his broken wand.

"I can't even write home about it," he grumbled. "Mum'd send me a Howler and say it served me right for getting into a fight." The twins sighed.

"Can't really help you there, Ron," George said.

"'Cause you're right. Mum would be furious," Fred added.

"I could get some Spellotape," George suggested. "That might hold it together until later. And if you save up your money, then you can buy yourself a new one at Ollivander's." Ron nodded, marginally cheered up, and they sat down to eat.

The day passed by, and the group settled down in the corner of the common room for some brainstorming. They _were_ forming a group of pranksters, they needed to plan good ideas.

Dinner came and went, they all went to bed, and at around midnight, Harriet found herself wandering the corridors, unable to sleep because of nightmares yet again.

She was under her Invisibility Cloak, of course, and she passed Filch and Mrs. Norris, Professor Snape, Professor McGonagall, the One-Eyed Witch's statue, a stone gargoyle, and several empty classrooms before finding herself coming back from the kitchens with a mug of hot chocolate. She was slowly walking up one of the stairs when she heard it.

This wasn't a teacher. This wasn't the shifting of the staircases, or the whispers of ghosts.

It was a voice, a voice that sent shivers down your spine and chilled you to the bone, a voice of breathtaking, ice-cold venom.

"_Come... come to me... Let me rip you... Let me tear you... Let me kill you..._"

The mug shattered as it fell down the steps, splattering hot liquid everywhere. Harriet ran back to the common room as quickly as possible, gasping out the password and diving into her four-poster bed in the dormitory and pulling the curtains tightly around her, then pulling her Invisibility Cloak over her head as well.

Sleep took its sweet time in coming that night.


	11. Halloween

**A huge thanks to all of my readers, and a special shout-out to Fergus Mason for being my beta and editing out any mistakes and American terms that might have slipped in.**

**I really don't have an excuse for this huge delay, nor do I think an apology will really help matters much, but if I don't update for more than three weeks you are allowed to spam me with messages to your heart's content yelling at me to get of my butt and start writing, homework be darned. 'Kay?**

* * *

September slowly drew to a close, bringing in October (Harriet's least favorite month). It spread a damp chill over the grounds, reflecting her mood, and Madam Pomfrey was kept busy by students pouring into the hospital wing with colds.

The Pepperup Potion that she gave you worked instantly, but it left steam pouring out of your ears for hours afterwards. Percy made Ginny take some because he thought she looked pale, and combined with her read hair she looked almost like she was on fire. Harriet thought that it looked pretty cool, to be honest. Thick raindrops came down in a heavy onslaught for days. The lake overflowed its banks and turned the surrounding area rather marshy, the flowerbeds outside turned into muddy rivers, and Hagrid's pumpkins swelled to the size of garden sheds, and rather large ones at that. Oliver Wood's Quidditch enthusiasm was not dampened, however, and Harriet seemed to constantly be taking showers due to being soaked to the skin and splattered in mud. The twins and Harriet, who had been spying on the Slytherin Quidditch team, reported that the players had been no more than green blurs in the air. Oliver just had them train all the more.

* * *

It was a Thursday morning, and Harriet was up nice and early and in the Great Hall before almost everyone else. There were a few Slytherin students, most of them first years, Cedric Diggory from Hufflepuff, and the Padma Patil along with a blonde first year from Ravenclaw. She was the only Gryffindor, but that was alright.

Up at the staff table, all the staff members were present except for Hagrid and Snape, who were probably tending the pumpkins and brewing in the dungeons respectively. She wasn't quite awake yet, as Halloween drew ever closer – in fact, the 31st was just two days away – the nightmares became more frequent once again. She'd been up for about two hours prior to the current time at which she decided that sleep wouldn't be coming (and Paravati snored, believe it or not), and so here she was.

Eating some toast while flipping through her Transfiguration textbook, she didn't pay much attention when she heard someone sit down at the Gryffindor table. She did pay attention, however, when she realized that they were talking to her and the person was Cedric Diggory.

"Earth to Harriet?" he said, snapping his fingers. "Anyone home?" She swatted his hand away.

"No, Cedric, I've gone shopping," she said sarcastically, and he laughed.

"Just wondering what you were doing up this early, I hardly ever see you around this time." She looked at him.

"If you wanted to talk to me you could have come over when I was here later," she pointed out, and he shrugged.

"Your friends are a bit scary, if I'm being honest," he said with a grin. "I was going to meet you during a free period, but the three of them were clustered around you like a brick wall." She sighed.

"Yeah, they're like that. They want to protect me, and I'm really grateful for that, although it can get a bit stifling." He nodded.

"Are you doing okay?" he asked. Harriet looked at him, taking another bite of her toast.

"Why wouldn't I be?" she responded, although she knew what he was talking about.

"It's nearing Halloween, and you have no reason to enjoy that. You look exhausted, and... you know, your summer." Harriet set the toast onto the plate and turned away from her Transfiguration text.

"I really am fine, Cedric," she said. "The summer was crazy, but it turned out just fine, and I can deal with Halloween." He nodded.

"I just wanted to make sure you're okay. You're a good person Harriet, and if you ever need anything, you can just ask me. Most of Hufflepuff would probably agree with me, too, okay?" She nodded, smiling.

"Thanks, Cedric. I really do appreciate it." He glanced up as more students came into the hall, mostly Gryffindors.

"I think I should make room for the rest of your house, now," he said. "See you 'round, Harriet."

* * *

Oliver had them practicing Quidditch that day and the next, and Harriet made sure to bring an extra change of clothes with her out to the locker room so she wouldn't track mud everywhere. Filch was one of the victims of the cold, and it made him more bad-tempered than ever. Harriet counted herself lucky. She was wandering through the hallways, carrying her Quidditch gear so that it wouldn't get mud everywhere, and was almost up to the Gryffindor castle when she found Nearly Headless Nick floating about and grumbling over a transparent letter clutched in his hand.

The following conversation that ensued was rather odd. She was told about the Headless Hunt, and how he couldn't join because he wasn't properly beheaded and therefore not headless. She wasn't sure how to respond, exactly, so she just gave a sympathetic smile and said she wished there was something she could do before starting to walk away.

He then asked her to come to his 500th deathday party, to which Harriet politely declined. The look on his face was rather pitiful, but then she explained that Halloween was the day that her own parents died and she liked to mourn them in solitude. He was much less disappointed and far more sympathetic after that, and said that if she ever needed to talk just find him. Then he floated off, and Harriet sighed. She didn't really need the pity, honest.

Rain continued to lash at the windows, but inside was bright and full of laughter. Students were ecstatic over the upcoming feast, and the firelight made the red and gold colors of the common room even brighter and more welcoming. Students were talking and laughing, although Harriet had to rescue a salamander from the twins before they fed it a Fillibuster firework. She set it down next to the fireplace. Morgana and Scabbers sniffed at it before resuming their typical chase around the floor.

The day before Halloween, a Friday, Harriet and all of her Gryffindor friends were sitting in one of the passageways. It was one of the ones that had collapsed, but Neville had suggested that they use it as sort of a hideout. The twins and Lee, being the oldest and therefore having the most knowledge (excluding Hermione), went inside and added some candles and after a lot of work, Transfigured rocks on the floor into carpets, and very basic furniture. It became a little hideout for them when they didn't feel like sitting in the common room or just wanted some peace and quiet.

Currently, it was Harriet, the twins, Ron, Hermione, Neville, and Lee sitting in various places around the space. Harriet was lying on the floor with a Potions textbook propped up against the table leg, Hermione was adding a couple extra feet onto their History of Magic essay, the twins were conspiring in the corner with Lee, and Neville was explaining the finer points of Herbology to Ron.

That was one of the great things about their group. Each of them were particularly good at a couple of subjects. The twins and Lee excelled at Transfiguration, Charms, and Potions. Harriet was good at Defense Against the Dark Arts and Potions, Hermione was already studying Ancient Runes and Arithmancy for next year, although she was also the best in History of Magic since she was the only one to actually pay attention, and Neville was amazing with Herbology. Ron was rather average at almost all of the subjects, but he found that Defense Against the Dark Arts came easier than the others. They would excell in their own subjects, and help the others in the subjects that they were falling behind in. Harriet would help Neville in Potions, who would help Ron in Herbology, would would study with Hermione on DADA... It was a great system, she had to admit.

Anyway, it was rather quiet at the moment, but Harriet found her mind drifting away from Potions and onto other random thoughts. She thought about Dobby for a bit, but that just confused her, so she moved to other thoughts and ideas. A couple potential pranks popped up, but they weren't very well planned.

She continued to stare at the textbook, not really seeing it. The ideas of pranks caused her to think about the twins, which in turn caused her to think about the beginning of the year and the odd 'horses' that the others said were pulling the carriages. She wasn't quite sure how she made the connection, but it probably had to do with the morbid thoughts that came around this time of year.

_Thestrals are odd sorta skeletal black horses that yeh can't see until yeh've seen someone die._

That's what Hagrid had told her back in Diagon Alley, when she first found out she was a witch. She had almost forgotten about it up until now, but what happened earlier this year... Did thestrals pull the carriages? Getting up, she pulled the copy of _Hogwarts, a History_ that Hermione had given her for her birthday out of her bag and started rifling through it. Ah, yes, there we go.

_When the village of Hogsmeade was established in 1215 AD, as one of the earliest all-magical settlements, it was decided that as the village was so close to the school, it would be far easier to provide transportation from the village to the school as to allow parents of magical children the convenience of simply bidding their children farewell at a set point than waiting in line at the Apparation points. The current headmaster of Hogwarts, Gaerwyn Gryffindor, great-grandson of one of the Hogwarts founders, Godric Gryffindor, established the system of horse-drawn carriages that still exists today. Originally, a dozen pure white horses were used to pull the carriages, but in 1433, Headmistress Arianna Evergreen discovered a herd of thestrals and became determined to domesticate them and use them to pull the carriages instead. In 1450..._

Harriet stopped reading as Ron spoke up.

"Blimey, Harriet, I didn't think you'd actually read that!" Hermione glared at him while Harriet just rolled her eyes.

"Those things you guys saw, the horses pulling the carriages, they're called thestrals." Everyone looked confused, save Hermione who was nodding.

"I _knew_ I'd read about it before!" she said. "But I left my copy of _Hogwarts, a History: Unabridged_ at my house because it wouldn't fit in the trunk with all my other books." Ron now gaped at her, while Harriet laughed.

"Yeah, it says that thestrals pulled the carriages. You can only see them... well, if you've seen death." This sombered the mood very quickly, but everyone started laughing as Scabbers and Morgana ran up Ron's pant legs, causing him to fall to the ground with an unmanly squeal. Nobody mentioned thestrals for the rest of the day.

* * *

Halloween rolled around, and Harriet sent off her friends to the Great Hall before meandering towards the kitchens, making sure her Cloak was with her in case she lost track of time and was out after curfew. She took her time, since the day really killed her appetite, and she therefore wasn't in the mood for celebrating or eating. She passed by a hallway lined with thin black candles that cast an eerie blue glow, and she supposed that this must be where Nick was hosting the deathday party, but she walked straight past it and continued onwards through the halls of the drafty old castle until she reached the portrait of the bowl of fruit.

Tickling the pear, she stepped inside and was instantly greeted by several house elves. One of them hopped onto the others shoulders and the two pulled her over to a small table while a couple more pushed her down into a seat. A rather young looking elf bounced around and asked the young mistress what she'd be wanting.

"Er, just some meat, I guess. Beans are good. And pudding, please." The elves all smiled happily and in an couple minutes there was a meal to feed at least three people sitting in front of her.

"Um... thanks," she said, and they were practically crying and saying that she was such a noble young mistress, such a sweet girl to be thanking poor Nibby or Libby or whatever their names were. Not that she didn't think their names were unimportant, but honestly, she couldn't remember all their names when they were all talking at once.

A good couple hours later, Harriet snapped out of her daze to find that she'd only eaten a couple plates out of a dozen and that it was nearing midnight, which was far past curfew for second-years. She stood up quickly.

"Um, thank you for the food, I'm sorry I didn't eat all of it, but it's past curfew and I really ought to be leaving-"

"Oh, young mistress is too kind to be thanking young Tipsy!"

"Not a problem Mistress Potter-"

"-such a kind witch-"

"-yous is being too kind to Bibbidi-"

Harriet managed to escape the waves of grateful house-elves about five minutes later, pulling on her Cloak and making her way back through the halls. The Feast had ended already, so she was alone in the corridors. She cut through several passageways to take a shortcut up to the tower, mumbled the portrait to the Fat Lady, and slipped inside.

Hermione leapt up from where she was sitting in one of the plush armchairs and squeezed her in a hug. Harriet was confused, even moreso when she saw her five other friends get up from various couches and seats as well.

"What's going on?" she asked. "Why do you all look so worried?" Fred put a hand on her shoulder.

"We came back from the feast, and there was a message on a wall written in blood-red paint. 'The Chamber of Secrets has been opened, enemies of the Heir beware'." Harriet nodded.

"Okay-" she started, but George cut her off.

"There was an attack, too," he said grimly. "Filch and Mrs. Norris. They were Petrified."


	12. Author's Note

**IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE, PLEASE READ**

**Okay. So, I'm really, truly, incredibly sorry about this, but I can't keep writing this story, at least, not for now. I want to, very very much, but with the other stories I have going on, school, and just life in general, I don't think I'll be able to keep writing this. 'Sides, I imagine you'd want well-written, thought-out chapters instead of what I've managed to get done at midnight when I'm hardly conscious.**

**I'm only leaving this up for a week or so here, which ought to be enough time for everyone to see it and get the message. I'll also have it up on my profile page as well. Author's notes aren't technically allowed as chapters on the site, but I've seen it constantly...**

**Just to clarify: this story is now on ****_hiatus_****. Indefinite hiatus. I don't know when I'll be able to start writing again, but I assure you that it will eventually be done. This is on indefinite hiatus. Not permanent hiatus, which is a fancy way of saying that it's been discontinued, or I'm-never-going-to-finish-this-but-I'll-say-it's-on-hiatus-anyway hiatus. This will be finished, but I just don't have the time right now.**

**Lots and lots and lots of thankyous to everybody who has favorited the series, dropped a review, put this on their alerts list, and all the wonderful feedback you've given. See you all later.**

**~~~Obsidian**


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